caramelized shallot mac and cheese

I can't imagine a better way to start the new year than a new mac and cheese recipe, since it's my favorite food group. This one is from December 2008 Bon Appetit, and features goat cheese and crispy sweet shallots as the topping.

Grocery list: butter, 6 large shallots, 8oz dried pasta (elbow or penne), 1 1/4 cup half & half, 2.5 tsp hot sauce, 8oz grated sharp cheddar cheese, 1.5 T AP flour, 2/3 cup crumbled fresh goat cheese.



Thinly slice the shallots (6 large should be about 3 cups).



Melt 3 T butter in a heavy pan or cast iron skillet. Cook over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, covered, stirring frequently. Then reduce heat to medium and continue to cook until shallots have caramelized (this took another 10 minutes by my count).



Remove from heat. Cook the pasta according to package directions, or about 1-2 minutes less than al dente. Drain. Bring half & half to a simmer over medium heat.



Toss the grated cheese with flour, then pour into the pan with the half & half. Add the hot sauce. Whisk until smooth and just starting to bubble (another 2 minutes). Season with salt & pepper. Mix the cooked pasta into the sauce, then spread into a buttered baking dish. Top with the caramelized shallots, then sprinkle goat cheese crumbs across top. Bake at 400 degrees until bubbly, 15-20 minutes.

swiss chard with goat cheese walnuts & cranberries

I've been serving swiss chard with slivered garlic, fresh lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil for a while, and wanted to mix it up. Turns out you can use a popular salad combination of goat cheese, walnuts and dried cranberries - who knew?

Grocery list: rainbow or red swiss chard, goat cheese, handful of chopped walnuts, handful of dried cranberries, olive oil.



Chop and toast the walnuts over medium flame, stirring frequently to prevent burning, for a few minutes. Remove from heat.



Remove the stems from the chard and cut into bite size pieces. Saute in olive oil over medium high heat until they just begin to soften, then add the cranberries.



Chop the chard leaves then add to the pan with about 1/4 cup water (pan will be overflowing, but the chard will cook down significantly). Keep moving the chard around so the uncooked leaves on top get moved to the bottom. The water will evaporate as well.



Sprinkle a little fresh goat cheese on top, followed by the toasted walnuts, then stir to mix. Season with salt and pepper.

leek tart with goat cheese

I really am loving Molly Wizenberg's (AKA Orangette) "Cooking Life" column in Bon Appetit. She is such an incredible food writer - she's so over the top with her descriptions (I can relate). Her column in the October 2008 issue was probably my favorite, featuring 2 recipes in 1, for leek confit and a leek and goat cheese tart. Based on her recommendation, I was putting leftover leek confit on everything for days (including scrambled eggs - who would have guessed?). The tart was perfect, even though I used fresh goat cheese instead of aged.

Grocery list: (for the leek confit) 1/2 stick butter, 4 large leeks; (for the crust) 3/4 tsp apple cider vinegar, 1.5 cups AP four, 3/4 tsp salt, 1 stick butter plus 1 T; (filling) 1/2 cup whole milk, 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1 egg, 1 egg yolk, 1/2 crumbled goat cheese (original recipe calls for aged goat cheese, such as Bucheron).



Make the crust by pulsing the flour and salt with butter (cold, and cut up into small cubes) in a food processor, until it has the consistency of coarse meal. Mix 4 T ice water with the cider vinegar in separate bowl, then add this slowly to the machine while it's running. The dough should start to make clumps (if not, add another T or 2 of ice water). Remove from the processor, shape into a ball, wrap with saran wrap, and refrigerate for 2 hours. Roll it out on a floured surface, and transfer to a tart pan. As you can see, I only had a pie pan, so this technically was a leek pie...



Cover your crust with foil, and fill it with dried beans or rice (to weigh down the crust). Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes; remove the foil and weights and continue to bake until it's golden - another 20 minutes or so. Allow to cool while you work on the filling.



To make 2 cups of leek confit (you'll only need 1.5 cups for the tart - the leftovers are great with scrambled eggs!), chop the leeks in half lengthwise, then into 1/4 inch slices. Wash thoroughly. Put 1/2 stick of butter in a dutch oven and melt over medium-low heat. Add the leeks (about 5 cups washed and chopped), plus 2T water and a pinch of salt. Cover and cook on low, stirring every few minutes, for 25 minutes. Uncover and allow any excess water to cook out - about 3-5 more minutes of cooking time.



Whisk the egg + 1 yolk with the milk, cream, and a pinch of salt.



Spread 1/4 cup crumbled cheese over the bottom of the tart, then pour 1.5 cups of leek confit over. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup cheese over the top, then pour the milk and egg mixture over top. Bake for 35-40 minutes at 375 degrees. You'll know it's done when you shake the pan and the middle of the tart is jiggly but firm (not liquid-y) - yes, these are scientific terms. I also had a bit of crust around the rim that I worried would burn, so I covered the edges of the pan carefully with foil, like you do with an apple pie. It turned out great this way.

crispy goat cheese over arugula salad with prosciutto and figs

What could possibly be better than crispy-on-the-outside, gooey-melted-inside goat cheese rounds? Why, putting it on top of a salad to excuse it as "healthy", that's what. This recipe from October's Bon Appetit is just pure happiness.

Grocery list (this makes 8 goat cheese rounds, which they suggest is enough for 8 salads): quart fresh figs, 1 lemon, balsamic, white wine vinegar, fresh basil, sugar, olive oil, 1 log goat cheese (11 oz), 1 c panko, 1 egg, arugula, 3 oz thinly sliced prosciutto, honey.



Don't be intimidated by the vinaigrette; it only takes a few minutes. If you don't want the hassle of cooking the figs, you can get fig paste or jam that would probably work. Stem and quarter 6 large figs, and heat in a small saucepan along with 1/2 cup water.



Simmer over med-low heat for about 5 minutes, mashing with a potato masher until you have a puree. Remove from heat. The recipe says to drain over a strainer, but I didn't have any excess liquid. I just let it cool for a few minutes then picked out the skins - the remaining paste was perfect.



Stir in 1 T fresh lemon juice, 1 T balsamic, 1 T white wine vinegar, 2 T olive oil, pinch of sugar, and 2 tsp chopped basil. Season with salt and pepper.



After trying this recipe, next time I will put the goat cheese in the freezer for 5-10 minutes before slicing - it was messy. Dip each piece of goat cheese in beaten egg first, then coat with panko. Chill on plate for 10 minutes in fridge before frying.



Heat a little olive oil in a skillet over med-high heat, then cook goat cheese for 1-2 minutes per side, till golden. Arrange arugula on plates and lay prosciutto slices over. Quarter the remaining figs and divide over the plates. Place goat cheese on top, drizzle with honey and the vinaigrette.

eat your vegetables: broccolini with goat cheese and garlic

A and I were in Vegas a few weekends ago and stayed at the always-amazing Wynn Hotel. I had never eaten at their SW Steakhouse before, so this was on our list to try. It's not as good as N9NE (still reigns as my favorite - their gnocchi, which our waiter described as "little pillows of love", literally melt in your mouth, the perfect complement to an already perfect steak), but they had a few unique dishes to talk about. First, the best part of the meal wasn't the wet-aged steak (great, but not the best I've ever had). The highlight was actually one of the items in the bread basket: bacon and cheese corn muffins. I almost had to get up and walk away from the table, I was afraid of making a scene when I bit into one. Maybe one day I'll try to make these.  But for now, I'm settling for an at-home attempt at my second favorite thing from this meal, the side dish of broccolini with goat cheese and garlic.

Grocery list (can you guess?): broccolini, goat cheese, garlic.

I started by blanching the trimmed broccolini: cook in boiling water for 5 minutes or until slightly tender, then drain and immediately rinse with cold water so they stay crisp and bright green. Slice 3-4 garlic cloves very thin, then saute in olive oil. Add the broccolini and cook for another 2 minutes. Sprinke some goat cheese crumbles across the top, turn off the heat, and season with salt and pepper. It was so simple I was *almost* surprised that I paid $12 for this in Vegas...

a new cheese plate for teddi

You know how Whole Foods sometimes has those ridiculously delicious cheese platters set up for you to sample, and when you try them you always agree it's the best thing ever, but *most* of the time reason kicks in and you say to yourself "that's good, but you came in here for pork chops, not cheese, and there's no way I'm going to spend $15 on cheese and the necessary accoutrements"? Well, this one was so good I caved.

Teddi -- get out there and find these ingredients immediately, you will love this!


This is a simple goat cheese, any will work. The spread drizzled across the top of the cheese (which I broke up with a fork) is none other than CARAMEL SAUCE. WF has a brand "Dolci Di Latte", but I bet you could use anything. The crackers on the side are new, very crunchy and textured, called "lesley stowe's raincoast crisps", described as "seed crackers". But any hearty, crunchy cracker could work.