goat cheese

Warm Lentil Salad with Roasted Red Peppers and Spinach

May 13, 2013 by Erica

At first, I wasn’t going to post about this meal. I started out following Grab a Plate’s lentil salad recipe for dinner one night, but turned it into something slightly different when I didn’t feel like making yet another roasted red pepper dressing. It came out amazing, but I still thought maybe I didn’t need to blog about it.

Then Nate went back for seconds. And in case you didn’t know, that is rare enough to qualify a recipe as blog-worthy 100% of the time.

Warm Lentil Salad with Roasted Red Peppers and Spinach

So here we are with this weeknight lentil salad. It fits the mold for what I’ve been making so often this spring (grain or green + roasted vegetables + sauce or dressing), but with one thing that sets it apart: To me this feels very much like a recipe rather than a loose set of suggestions (the opposite of my usual salad posts)… because I wouldn’t change a single thing.

…

Goat Cheese and Sweet Potato Quiche

March 13, 2013 by Erica

Sweet Potato and Goat Cheese Quiche

A.K.A. My obsession with sweet potatoes reaches new heights.

I have to warn you about my sweet potato consumption lately. It has been INTENSE. My realization that winter is almost over prompted not only soup panic, but sweet potato panic. I’ve been incorporating them into almost every meal we eat. So, if you read this blog regularly, you can expect to see a lot of sweet potatoes in the next week or two. As in… 66.67% of the posts I have planned for the next week involve sweet potatoes.

Sweet Potato and Goat Cheese Quiche

I hope you’re OK with that… especially when those sweet potatoes take quiche form.

Now, I’ll be honest, the idea for this quiche was born out of some desperate-looking leftovers on my counter and in my fridge (sweet potatoes and goat cheese). Pantry cooking is not my forte, although I’m trying to be better about it and will hopefully do a post about that soon. But sweet potatoes and goat cheese seemed like a good combo, and so they found their way into this quiche, along with some sage, red onions, and Swiss cheese.

Sweet Potato and Goat Cheese Quiche

And let me say that it is taaaaasty. I definitely forgot how much I like quiche.

When I wasn’t eating eggs or dairy, I didn’t think I had too many quiches in my future. Luckily, I was wrong. I had a LOT of quiche in my life on the day that I made this little beauty. Probably too much. It was yummy, but I think I recommend moderation. Do as I say, not as I do.

Sweet Potato and Goat Cheese Quiche

I realized after making this quiche that it may slightly resemble my blood orange upside down cake, hah. I guess I’m loving everything round and orange recently!

Sweet Potato and Goat Cheese Quiche

This is one of the most flavorful quiches I’ve ever had. The goat cheese and sweet potatoes really are a great combo, and the sage and red onion add another punch. Mmmm I’m wishing I had some leftovers of this right now. Writing about really good food just isn’t as much fun when you’re not simultaneously stuffing your face with it.

I used my mom’s easy press-in pie crust for this quiche. In my opinion, quiches take long enough to cook; the last thing I need is to be chilling and rolling out a pie crust on top of that. You can even mix this pie crust right in the pie plate and then just press it on in. And if you’re better at working with pie crusts than I an, you might even be able to crimp the edges of yours. Clearly, that didn’t happen with mine. My mom somehow manages to put beautiful crimps in this crust, but I have yet to manage it.

Sweet Potato and Goat Cheese Quiche

This quiche would be great for brunch, lunch or dinner. I’ve eaten it for all three! It’s one of the tastiest ways I’ve gotten my sweet potato fix lately :)

Sweet Potato and Goat Cheese Quiche

5.0 from 2 reviews

Goat Cheese and Sweet Potato Quiche

Hands-on time

45 mins

Cook time

45 mins

Total time

1 hour 30 mins

Author: Erica

Yields: 1 quiche, about 8 servings

Ingredients

For the crust:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup canola oil
2 Tbsp milk (I used plain unsweetened almond milk)

For the quiche filling:

1 1/2 medium or 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/4 cup minced fresh sage leaves
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese (or other cheese of your choice)
4 oz. crumbled goat cheese

For the custard:

3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk (I used plain unsweetened almond milk)
1/2 cup heavy cream
pinch of nutmeg

Instructions

First, prepare the vegetables. Preheat oven to 400 and line two baking sheets with foil. Slice half of one sweet potato into 1/4-inch rounds for the top of your quiche. (This is optional. I needed 13 slices to top mine.) Brush with olive oil and spread in a single layer on a baking sheet. Chop the remaining sweet potato into 1/2-inch cubes and place in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
To the bowl of chopped sweet potatoes, add the red onion, sage, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Toss to combine. Spread in an even layer on the other baking sheet. Place both sheets in oven and bake until potatoes are tender and starting to brown, about 20 minutes, stirring/flipping slices once halfway through. Remove from oven and reduce oven temperature to 350.
While sweet potatoes are roasting, prepare the crust. Add all crust ingredients directly to a pie plate (or to a separate bowl, if you prefer) and stir to combine. Press into an even crust and, if you have enough crust, crimp the edges!
Whisk together all custard ingredients (eggs through nutmeg).
Now you are ready to assemble the quiche. For the bottom layer, sprinkle half of both types of cheese. Top this with the chopped sweet potato mixture, followed by the remaining cheese. Pour the custard mixture over everything, and arrange optional roasted sweet potato slices on top.
Bake quiche at 350 until set in the middle and custard is starting to turn golden brown, 45-55 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before serving.

Notes

Adapted from Kitchen in the Yard.

Whole Pear Parfait with Goat Cheese, Chocolate and Granola

January 18, 2013 by Erica

Yesterday’s post was all about clean eating. So obviously, today I bring you a dessert with goat cheese and chocolate.

How hypocritical of me.

Let’s just acknowledge that this is a treat, and move on.

This is not the first time I’ve made you a pear with cheese on top. So I guess you could call this a variation on a theme.

Pears are so pretty, though. I can’t help making them into desserts.

I was inspired to make these pears by The Novice Chef’s Vertical Pear Salad, which has been circulating on Pinterest. Naturally, my train of thought was as follows:

Oooh, that’s pretty. I should do that.

You know what’s more fun than a salad, though? A dessert!

But maybe I could still leave the cheese on?

So, there you have it. I started with a salad and turned it into a dessert. This should surprise just about no one.

Have you ever had chocolate and goat cheese before, like in chocolate goat cheesecake (one of the best desserts I’ve ever had)?

You might think it sounds like an odd combination, and maybe it is, but in the best way possible. Together they are tangy, sweet, and extremely rich.

Now that I’m thinking about that chocolate goat cheesecake, I’m realizing that I’m going to have to make that sometime. Put it on the list.

Try these out if you like rich desserts! They are super easy and quick to assemble; melting the chocolate is what takes the longest.

Speaking of the chocolate, next time I might add more milk to make it even drizzle-ier, and pour it all over the top instead. As it is, this dessert isn’t too gooey… and I will always opt for gooey.

Have a good weekend, friends!

Whole Pear Parfait with Goat Cheese, Chocolate and Granola

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 pears (I used Bosc)

5 oz dark chocolate chips

1/4 cup milk or cream (I used almond milk)

5-6 oz. goat cheese

1/2 cup granola

Instructions:

Cut a tiny slice off of the bottom of each pear, so that it will stand up straight. Then slice each pear into 3 horizontal pieces.

In a heat-proof dish, microwave the chocolate chips and milk together. As noted above, you could increase the amount of milk (to 1 cup or so) to make it more of a sauce that you could drizzle over the whole dessert. Once chocolate is melted, whisk together. If you find that the milk is making the chocolate seize up, try adding a bit more milk and microwaving it for another 30 seconds, then whisk again.

Spread a layer of goat cheese onto the top of each pear base. Sprinkle with a small handful of granola, and give it a dollop of chocolate. Place the second pear layer on and repeat. Top with the last piece of pear!

These are prettiest if served in the hour or so after assembly. They do keep in the fridge for about 24 hours, but the chocolate will not be melted, of course, and the edges of the pear layers will look a tiny bit shriveled. However, I found that the chocolate was soft enough to be eaten after being refrigerated overnight, if you have leftovers!

Time:

10 minutes

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