Hooray for San Francisco!

Last night I tried a recipe I've been waiting to taste since I read about it months ago: Baked Goat Cheese Salad. I only recently discovered I even liked goat cheese, but now that I know, it seems new and wonderful ways to use it keep cropping up.

Overall, I was pleased with how it turned out. I served it as the entire dinner, but I can see that it would be tasty as a side dish or "starter" if served with fewer cheese medallions. It was relatively easy to make, and I think one could easily prepare the cheese medallions earlier in the day if company was coming. The creamy cheese and crunchy panko coating was delightful. The only thing I might change is adding kalamata olives to the actual salad, just for a little saltiness and extra yum factor. I did enjoy it with the recommended hard apple cider, something I would encourage you to do as well.

I wasn't sure if plain or flavored cheese would be better, so I used one log of each. The general consensus was the plain was better. I found the recipe in San Francisco Entertains (find it at www.jlsf.org), which has tons more recipes that look really good. I'm sure you'll see more from it!


Baked Goat Cheese Salad
Goat Cheese Medallions
2 (8-ounce) logs soft goat cheese (I used two 4-ounce logs)
1 cup panko
1 sprig of fresh thyme or parsley
¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper
1 egg
1 teaspoon water

Dressing and Salad
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup sherry vinegar (I was out, so used red wine vinegar)
½ shallot, chopped
Juice of ½ lemon
¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper
 8 cups fresh greens (not really important to measure this; just mound greens on serving plates as needed)
Freeze the goat cheese logs for 20 minutes. Mix the panko with the thyme, salt and pepper. Toast on a baking sheet at 350 degrees for 3 to 5 minutes. Maintain the oven temperature. Beat the egg lightly with the water in a bowl. Slice each cheese log into about 6 slices. Dip the slices in the egg wash; coat with the panko. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Whisk the oil, vinegar, shallot, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a bowl or shake together in a container with a tight-fitting lid. Mix with the greens just before serving. Place some greens on each serving plate and top each with 2 to 4 warm cheese medallions. Enjoy immediately.

I served it with sliced fresh pears...so tasty!

Comments

  1. Mandy10/11/10, 11:21 AM

    I *love* goat cheese! This looks so yummy! Maybe you could have us over for some of these trials... :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Saundra10/14/10, 3:41 PM

    Wow!! That looks amazing! I had goat cheese crepes with crafish sauce in New Orleans and I was blown away with it. I'm glad you discovered its goodness!

    ReplyDelete

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