Fried Brussel Sprouts with Whipped Goat Cheese

Full disclosure, I'm not the biggest fan of Thanksgiving (I know, blasphemy for a foodie) but I didn't grow up with the holiday so I don't have any childhood memories of mountains of mashed potatoes or stuffing my face with three kinds of pie. It all seems kind of strange to me, like a plate of turkey with a lot of mushy baby food (sorry don't hate me). 

The problem might be that the British have a tradition of eating a roast every Sunday. Yeah, you heard me, we make an epic roast every single week with roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, and sausage stuffing. So Thanksgiving has a uncanny valley feel for me, it's really close to something I know and love but not quite the same... Fortunately, there's one thing that's the same on both side of the Atlantic - brussel sprouts!

I know brussel sprouts aren't the most traditional Thanksgiving side but they've definitely been around more in recent years and they're super delicious, especially if you fry them and dress them in a honey balsamic vinaigrette. And, no, I won't apologies for using goat cheese in everything. Goat cheese is the best and everyone should eat it with everything. 

This dish is pretty bare bones, but feel free to add hazelnuts? pancetta? breadcrumbs? more cheese? all of the above?  

Also **safety warning** the oil spits a little, fry 'em gently and stand back! 

Steps

Wash, trim, and half the brussel sprouts. Heat a thin layer of oil in a frying pan. On a low-medium heat, fry the sprouts in batches (usually 10 - 15 halves at a time). Fry until golden brown and crispy, approx. 1 - 2 mins per side. Remove from heat and place on a paper towel. 

Mix together balsamic and honey (add a pinch of salt and pepper). Toss the fried spouts in the dressing and add salt and pepper to taste. 

Spread goat cheese on the serving dish and pile sprouts on top.  

Stuff

brussel sprouts

whipped goat cheese

1 tbsp honey 

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

canola oil (for frying)

salt & pepper 

Taste test!

Pumpkin Beer and Goat Cheese Soup

I've been taken down by another cold... which means MORE SOUP! Not quite sure how restorative this one is since one of the main ingredients is beer but, hey, it checks all the warming and comforting boxes. This soup has been on my fall rotation for a while now (it's even a FOOD52 community pick), it came about after visiting the Dogfish Head brewery at the end of a late summer trip to Dewey Beach. We were all incredibly hungover and embarrassingly sunburnt. Ready to give up on summer for that year and fully embrace the cool fall weather, our friend order this soup from the restaurant and it blew us all away. 

We were so impressed by the soup we spent the rest of that fall trying to figure out the recipe (plus finding different toppings, adding sweet potatoes or squash, and experimenting with different beers). The additional toppings and autumnal vegetables were very successful but I stuck with Dogfish Head Punkin Ale. Sure, other beers worked fine, but the Punkin Ale is my favorite fall beer and I like drinking it while I cook.

Stuff for Soup

1 sugar pie pumpkin

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 Dogfish Head Punkin Ale (or other Pumpkin Ale)

2 cups vegetable stock

pinch of nutmeg

pinch of cinnamon

spoonful of brown sugar (optional)

olive oil 

salt & pepper

Stuff for Toppings

handful pepitas

olive oil

sage leaves

goat cheese

Steps

Preheat your oven to 425° F. Half and seed pumpkin. Rub with olive oil and season with salt, roast pumpkin in the oven until tender (approx. 30 mins). Let cool, then remove flesh from skin.

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Dice onion and garlic and sauté until tender. Add roasted pumpkin, nutmeg, and cinnamon to the pan. Pour in beer. Increase heat and allow at least half the beer to burn off. Once the beer has burned off, lower the heat and add in vegetable stock. Allow the soup to simmer for 10 to 20 minutes.

Using an immersion blender, purée the soup until it's smooth (if you like a thinner soup, you can add some more vegetable stock). Add salt and pepper to taste. If the soup is a little bitter, add sugar. 

In a frying pan, toast the pepitas until they are crunchy and remove from heat. 

Heat olive oil in a frying pan, drop in the sage leaves and fry until they are crispy but still green. 

Cut the goat cheese log into 3/4-inch chunks. Divide the soup into bowls and place a goat cheese chunk in the center. Drizzle the sage oil over the soup and sprinkle the pepitas on top of the cheese. Garnish the dish with a fried sage leaf.

 

Smoked Salmon Pita Pocket

I'm on a sandwich kick at the moment. There's just something so satisfying about looking in the fridge at the end of a long day and saying, 'fuck it, I'm having a sandwich for dinner.' In addition to my goat cheese addiction, I also have a salmon obsession and a weird need to eat green leaves with most of my meals--so I tend to keep those things in the fridge. I also eat a bag of lemons every week. 

The point is, this sandwich came about because it combines all my favorite foods in a delightful (classy, even?) pita pocket. I eat it for lunch almost every Saturday and it goes down a treat with a midday glass of wine and a handful of kettle chips. 

No one really needs a recipe for a sandwich, but I wrote one anyway. YOU'RE WELCOME WORLD. 

Stuff

pita bread

smoked salmon

goat cheese

cucumber slices

arugula

mustard

lemon wedge

salt & pepper

Steps

Cut the pita in half and toast each half. Cut open each half and spread one side with goat cheese and the other side with mustard. Layer in the salmon, cucumber, and arugula. Squeeze the lemon wedge over everything and season with salt and pepper. 

Enjoy with some chips and a glass of white wine. 

Radishes with Whipped Goat Cheese

Spring has arrived and I know this because there are super cute radishes in my CSA. I'll roast, slice, and pickle these little cuties but my favorite way to eat them is just as they are with butter and maldon salt or with some whipped goat cheese and black pepper. Few things make me happier right now than sitting outside with a beer after work and chowing down on some radishes. I highly recommend you try it. 

In other fun news, my burrata with lemon mint peas recipe was selected as a Food52 Community Pick and they took a legit photo of it! Cheese and veggies for the win on all fronts! 

It really doesn't get any easier than this. Let the ingredients speak for themselves and you won't be disappointed. If you're not super into goat cheese (sorry, this blog will be a huge disappointment) then I recommend mascarpone or maybe even some backed ricotta?

Stuff

radishes

goat cheese

dash of milk

black pepper

Steps

Mix the goat cheese with the milk and black pepper until you get yogurt like consistency. Wash the radishes and enjoy your simple spring snack. 

Sweet Potato Bowl

This came about one week night after hosting a soiree of sorts (aka a Golden Globes watch party) the previous weekend. My roommate made the most insane squash toast appetizer, she even made the frickin' baguette. Anyway, turns out we had more squash than toast, so there was a giant bowl of squash in our fridge all week (no complaints here). Since I wasn't about to make homemade baguettes on a Tuesday, we decided it was okay to eat the squash mash out of a bowl as long as we topped it with some greens and beans. It was insanely delicious and so the squash bowl became a winter staple. 

Seriously, if you ever have a kabocha squash, make it into a squash bowl. But if, like mine, your CSA is really into sweet potatoes, you can easily adapt the squash bowl into the sweet potato bowl, which is what I did last week. And it was so, so good. There's the heat from the chili flakes, the sweetness from the potato and the maple syrup, the bite from the vinegar... plus the earthy warmth from the kale, lentils, and paprika with the freshness of lemon, parsley, and goat cheese.

The technique for the mash (in the first link) is Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s and, of course, it's solid. So other than subbing squash for sweet potato and a white onion for a red one, I don't mess with it. We've used kale every time we've made this ('tis the season), but we've used different beans/lentils depending on what we had on hand. I reckon you could add in your protein of choice (although I've yet to test it with meat). 

Stuff

2 sweet potatoes

1 red onion 

1 bunch of Kales

1/3 cup of lentils

pinch of chili flakes

good pour of apple cider vinegar

splash of maple syrup

juice from 1 lemon

couple shakes of paprika 

goat cheese 

parsley to garnish

olive oil 

salt and pepper

Steps

Preheat oven to 425F. In a small pan, put the lentils on to cook. Chop the sweet potatoes into chunks, season with olive oil, chili flakes, salt and pepper and roast in the oven for 30 - 45 minutes (until soft enough to easily mash). 

While the sweet potatoes roast, slice the onion and sauté in a large pan on a medium heat. Roughly chop and rinse the kale. Remove cooked lentils from the heat and set aside. 

Once the onions are caramelized (about 30 mins), deglaze the pan with apple cider vinegar and maple syrup. Add the sweet potatoes to the onion jam and mash everything together. Remove from the heat and season to taste. 

Put the kale on to cook (I use the same pan I cooked the lentils in). Once the kale has started to reduce, add the lentils, lemon juice, and paprika to the pan. Stir and season to taste.

To assemble, put the sweet potato mash in a bowl, top with the lentil mix, and sprinkle with crumbled goat cheese and roughly chopped parsley. 

Roasted Acorn Squash and Goat Cheese Dip

Thought my first post should be about my favorite time of day. It’s when I get home from work, take off my bra, and pour myself a BIG ASS glass of wine. As I drink my wine, I begin prepping the ingredients for dinner and obviously I get hungry. So, with my wine, I have a pre-dinner nibble. I’ll eat some cheese, crackers, pita, olives, hummus, chips, or smoked salmon (when I want to get real fancy on a Wednesday). I take my snacking seriously, so I’m always on the lookout for a good new snack. This is how I discovered pureed squash and goat cheese goes down a treat with some carrot sticks and pita chips. I made a batch this weekend, which I’m gonna enjoy all week with my wine.

I tend to eat this as a dip but, like hummus, it can also be used as a spread. Usually, I use 1 good sized squash, but last week my CSA gave me two adorably tiny acorn squash so I used 2 small ones instead. 

Stuff  

1 medium (or 2 little) acorn squash

dash of apple cider vinegar

pinch of chili flakes

few sprigs of thyme

¼ log of goat cheese

½ lemon

dash of maple syrup

olive oil 

salt and pepper

Steps

Preheat the oven to 425F. Half the squash and scoop out the seeds. Place on a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil and apple cider vinegar, sprinkle with chili flakes, thyme, and salt & pepper. Roast for 40 mins. 

Remove from the oven and let cool. Scoop squash flesh into a food processor. Add goat cheese, lemon juice, maple syrup, and salt & pepper. Blitz together. Drizzle in some extra olive oil if you want. Try it. Add extra lemon or salt to taste.