This is an amazing recipe that has me so re-excited, I am going to try it several different ways. Just the tomato with the goat cheese with the honey is enough of a flavor busting combination to make me want to give it a paleo twist. Never would I think that honey should touch tomatoes.

Never would I think that a grainy mustard belongs in this combination. But it does and when you taste all three together with a backdrop of tart crust, you will smile. Smile big. I promise. It will take you by surprise the way the boy you didn’t like all that much kisses really well and you go wow! It’s the nice surprise of the day.

I used my end of season tomatoes, some honey cultivated via blueberries, and a good goat cheese log. Surpassing the recipe for tart crust, I simply added an egg to my own basic pie crust, but changed the quantities and added in a egg yolk.

This summery, french tomato tart is not really about me, even if tarts are my favorite food. This tart is about a combination of many hands, hard at work, and a love story high on a hill with a dairy goat or two.

Nobel Springs Dairy Goat Farm – Tennessee

Just ten minutes from my house, Nobel Springs Dairy sits on a 230 acres in Franklin, Tennessee. It’s the result of a romantic love story that began in the childhoods of Justyne McCoy and Dustin Nobel who fell in love with goats in childhood. They met when Justyne was in high school at a goat show. Together they fulfilled their individual dreams of raising goats on a dairy farm.

Yes, it’s romantic. And, yes, it’s hard work. They often work 14 or more hours a day, milking, cleaning, processing, and selling cheese at 8 different farmer’s markets and to local grocers. But, they love it because they are following their passion. Dustin and Justyne are getting married in July.

This picture of the goat was 15 years ago. Wow, how time goes fast.

The Process for French Tomato Tart

This tart from David Lebovitz. When I found it on his site, I felt as if I could taste the freshness of tomatoes, the buttery crust, and the golden browned, honey dripped goat cheese through the screen. It immediately went on my mental “to make” list. And, it synched perfectly with my visit to Nobel Springs Dairy.

• Tomatoes should be cut on the thick side and very ripe. Be generous with tomatoes, as they shrink up.
• Be generous with the honey. I went back in and drizzled more. I used a blackberry honey just as recipe called for.
• I increased my oven to 400 degrees and still had to cook much longer than 30 minutes, closer to 50 minutes, until my cheese browned enough. Next time, I may blind bake the pastry shell for a few minutes.
• I used fresh thyme, basil, and a little rosemary but you can use any fresh herbs you like

Honey is a secret ingredient here, drizzled over the cheese prior to baking.

It seems that as recipes get adapted, we find our own short cuts and tips. This is yet another exciting way many hands work to create a dish.

A special thanks to Nobel Springs, and if you are in the Nashville area, or shopping at one of our many farmer’s markets or Whole Foods, be sure to pick up some Nobel Springs goat cheese.

Special Diet Tart Crust Recipes

• Gluten Free Tart Crust
• Low Carb Tart Crust

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Goat Cheese, Honey, Tomato Tart

Goat cheese, honey, tomatoes comes together to make a delicious end of summer or anytime tart with fresh herbs adapted from David Lebovitz.

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 40 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

Tart Crust (makes 1 large tart)

• 1 1/2 flour
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 9 tablespoons unsalted butter placed in freezer for 15 minutes
• 1 tablespoons iced cold water
• 1 egg yolk

Goat Cheese Honey Tart

• 1 tart shell or pie crust
• 2 tablespoons grainy mustard
• herbs such as thyme tarragon, basil
• 3 large meaty tomatoes not too juicy sliced thickly
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 8 ounces of goat cheese in a log easy to slice
• 2 tablespoons of honey may use more

Instructions

Tart Crust with Food Processor

• Using a food processor, mix together flour, sugar, salt.
• Blend in butter and on medium speed, count to 10 seconds.
• Blend in water and blend for a few seconds.
• Blend in egg.
• Bring together to form a dough ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes at least.

Using Hands for Dough

• Mix together the dry ingredients. Blend in the butter until you have a mealy flour mixture. Add in water and egg and knead gently until the dough forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Roll out to three inches more than size of tart pan.
• Gently place in tart pan, and using rolling pin, roll off the edges.

Goat Cheese Honey Tart

• Fork the bottom of the tart shell. Spread on mustard until the base is covered.
• Cover with a scattering of fresh chopped herbs.
• Arrange slices of tomato, keeping in mind that tomatoes do shrink.
• Drizzle olive oil over tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.
• Arrange 6 to 8 round discs of goat cheese cut about 1/2 inch thick on top of the tomatoes.
• Drizzle honey over the entire tart, saving some honey for drizzling once tart is out of the oven.
• Bake at 400 degrees F. for 30 minutes. If making smaller tarts, reduce baking time.
• Goat cheese will bubble and turn a golden brown. Serve hot or at room temperature.
• Add more fresh herbs.

Notes

I found it best using lots of honey.

The post French Tomato Tart with Goat Cheese and Honey appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

When the Peach Truck comes to Nashville, selling the sweetest, freshest Georgia Peaches, I light the grill.

Grilled peaches are so versatile, as they go well with meat like these pork ribs or they are just as good in a salad. I also have a great peaches and pork chop recipe.

Here’s what great about throwing a spinach salad together. You can buy organic baby spinach that is already triple washed so dinner is easy. I love my kale, but that does require more prep work. Spinach doesn’t overpower the taste of the peaches; in fact, they compliment each other.

The grilling part is easy, as long as you spray your grill, or brush your peaches with a little oil. Slicing the peaches around the seed may be a bit of a challenge, but don’t give up. Just set the timer for two minutes.

I am loving my echo dot, because I just say, “Alexa set the timer for two minutes” and I don’t have to worry about the food on my hands.

I just happened to have some peach white balsamic vinegar on hand to make a peach vinaigrette, perfect for the peach spinach salad.

Paciflia Culinaria White Balsamic Peach Vinegar

Peach Vinaigrette is just Peachy for a Peach Spinach Salad

I made a traditional vinaigrette, using some dijon mustard, extra virgin olive oil and peach vinegar. If you don’t have peach vinegar, you can use a good balsamic or champagne vinegar for this salad. Keep in mind that spinach is a fragile green and doesn’t require a lot of dressing.

Peaches and Corn Make a Colorful Peach Spinach Salad

If you notice, I added in some fresh corn, cut right off the cob, not cooked.

There’s a lot of ways to play with this salad. I served it with grilled salmon which was perfect. You could make it an entree salad by adding in, bacon,  crispy pancetta or prosciutto. It also goes beautifully with pork!

Take a look at these Peach Recipes

Pork Ribs with Grilled Peaches

Corn, Peach, Vidalia Onion and Blackberry Pizza

Old Fashioned Peach Cobbler

How to Grill and Freeze Peaches 

How to Peel Peaches

More Salad Recipes from Spinach Tiger

More Salad Dressings/Vinaigrettes from Spinach Tiger

More Peach Recipes from Spinach Tiger

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Spinach Salad with Grilled Peaches, Peach Vinaigrette

Peach Spinach Salad can be a wonderful summer side or an entree when a protein is added. Fresh corn, goat cheese, and a peach vinaigrette add flavors and texture.

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 2 large peaches
• 1 container triple washed baby spinach about 8 cups
• 1 ear of corn
• 1-2 ounces goat cheese crumbled
• 1/4 cup toasted pecans
• 1/4 cup peach vinaigrette or as needed
• salt and pepper
• PEACH VINAIGRETTE INGREDIENTS
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons peach vinegar or champagne vinegar
• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

• Grill Peaches. Wash and dry peaches. Turn grill to medium. Cut into discs. Brush with olive oil.
• Grill for about 2 minutes each side or until you have nice grill marks.
• Cut corn off the cob.
• Make Peach Vinaigrette by shaking all ingredients in a jar. Taste for your own preference of acid. Some peach vinaigrettes are sweeter than others.
• Toss spinach corn, goat cheese with vinaigrette. You may some some left over. Use just enough to coat the leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Toss gently again. Taste for flavor.
• Top salad with peaches and pecans.

Spinach Tiger is an Amazon Affiliate, gaining a small commission, which provides support to running this site.

The post Spinach Salad with Grilled Peaches, Peach Vinaigrette appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

It has been way too long since I’ve talked about pizza, but now I just may overload you.

I recently got out Marcella Hazan’s Pizza Dough recipe and then got a little pizza crazy. We’ve been making pizza every day. I love playing the the dough and we even made a video making dough and will be embedding a video of this pizza here as soon as we clear the music copyright.

I’m always giving Retro Rose a lecture about eating too much pizza, trying to get her to cut down on the grains, but ask me how I’m doing with that. You know she was the first to arrive at my most recent pizza party, but while she sticks to the traditional, I like unusual toppings, and I tend to play around with fruit a lot.

Pears and prosciutto are a natural together, and last year I made prosciutto pear amuse bouche. That same combination with cheese and honey on a crispy, chewy pizza crust is even better.

Now this a pizza of two lives. It could almost be a dessert pizza because of the honey and the pears. However, it could just as easily be a main course pizza or an appetizer pizza. That’s up to you.

More Pizza Recipes from Spinach Tiger

Pizza Dough

Pear and Fig Jam Pizza on the grill

Broccoli Rabe Pancetta Pizza

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Pear Prosciutto Goat Cheese Pizza

Pizza that is good for dessert, appetizer or main event, sweet, salty, chewy, crispy.

Course Pizza

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• Pizza Dough Recipe found here
• 2 Bosc Pear thinly sliced
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese
• 8 thinly sliced pieces prosciutto
• 4 Tablespoons goat cheese
• salt
• pepper

Instructions

• Roll out pizza dough
• Arrange mozzarella cheese almost to the ends of dough
• Cover with pears
• Tear prosciutto and place intermittently
• Add in some goat cheese in small amounts, intermittenly
• Put pizza on heavy cast iron griddle or stone that has been preheated.
• Place on bottom rack of the oven.
• Bake at 450 or 500 degrees F for 6-10 minutes.
• Season with salt and pepper out of the oven.

The post Pear Prosciutto Goat Cheese Pizza with Honey Drizzle appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Sometimes cooking and especially baking can be a test of one’s character. Thus, is the case with the goat cheese biscuits.

I didn’t set out to make them. I set out to make goat cheese frosting!

But, did you know that flour and confectioner’s sugar look alike.

Yep. I did that. I used flour and then realized uh oh.

It’s not like me to want to throw food into the trash the way they do in Hollywood restaurant kitchens like in the movie Burnt. As they tested and tested and tested again recipes that might win the fictitious chef his hopeful three Michelin Stars, lots of food got trashed.

They should have trashed the movie. While we all love Bradley Cooper, his character never got lovable. Even

in the moment when he serves a little girl cake for her birthday, I just wanted to hit him with it.

I didn’t like the title, although I felt a bit burnt by the end.

I can’t stand fallen heroes who have talent and then use every drug,  every woman and every good friend.

I can’t stand temper tantrums and broken dishes in kitchens. I can’t stand antics. Go home, Chef. Break up your own house. Do violence all by yourself. No perfect scallop is worth eating that comes out of a toxic kitchen.

Aren’t we over scallops anyway?

I also can’t stand that somehow someway they had to have a gay character (the only endearing one in the bunch)  that had a crush on a straight guy. Pathetic.

And, how cliche that the female chef whom he nearly forces to work for him falls in love with him for absolutely no good reason except that he leaves her at a party, he physically assaults her in the kitchen, and he won’t let her take the lunch time off to spend with her daughter on her birthday.

Chef Adam Jones is a bit of a monster in the kitchen, yet drums up loyalty, even with us in the audience who actually feel sorry for him when someone gets even for his past antics and arranges some payback. We should have cheered the avenger, but we didn’t because the movie line was “like the bad boy.” After all, the bad boy will come out smelling better in the end.

But he really didn’t. He stunk and he burned us. He was not adorable.  He did have amazing blue eyes to gaze upon, but it wasn’t enough. We wanted him to come through and break out of his miserable self, so we could make sense out of the the female chef love interest, who had moxy in the beginning of the movie and lost it.

His  (sort of) therapist (Emma Thompson) was dressed absurdly for no good reason and her talent was diminished. While she delivered the only line of truth, it was too little, too late, and only zeroed out by line from a previous girlfriend who had gone down into hell with him. “We were good together.” No you weren’t good together; you were addicts,

toxic and in destruction.

You also look way too beautiful to have lived life on the dark side with the charming Chef Adam Jones.

 We always want the bad guy to win, if he so much as does a meek apology or glances our way. UGH!

Here’s the worst part of this movie.

I did not leave hungry for anything except scrambled eggs that were cooked in a home kitchen for him after he got blitzed.

I wanted to love this movie. But I already loved enough of the wrong things and people in 90’s.

Chef Movies I Do Love

Now if you really want to see a good movie revolving around the coveted Michelin stars, I have two for you, a movie:

The Thirty Foot Journey

If you really truly want to get inside of an Michelin Star Awarded Chef, see the documentary, For Grace which I wrote about here. I promise you to be blown away.

For Grace, a Documentary about Chef Curtis Duffy

While both chefs are flawed and a bit jagged at times, they are engaging in their personal story and compelling in their passion to cook. The 30 Foot Journey does a masterful job of displaying the complexities of people who are driven to perfection by a love of food, while still being as approachable as the food truck chef in Chef.

Chef (a movie to love)

 Chef is a feel good movie that tells more than the story of a chef, scorned by a food blogger. It’s the story of the guts it takes to bring tasty food to people, the price it takes in a personal life and a father/son story.

I could see this move over and over, as long as I have a Cubano Sandwich ready!

The Making of a Goat Cheese Biscuit

I could have just as easily thrown a fit when I discovered that I just put two cups of flour into my butter when I was trying to make frosting. I caught myself.

The test of character in a regular home kitchen is having the determination to do something with a mistake, as I still believe failures are the best teachers, and if you aren’t failing, you aren’t succeeding.

Knowing I make very successful biscuits, why not make one with goat cheese, even if the order of ingredients was not quite right, which I fixed for you in the recipe. Just know that even doing it wrong, they came out right and every last one disappeared before my eyes.

So tell me, do you have a favorite food movie?  I’d love to hear about it in the comments, or tell me about your funny kitchen mistakes.

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Goat Cheese Biscuits

A goat cheese biscuit, fluffy and tender with a sweet goat cheese flavor.

Course Biscuit

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 4 ounces goat cheese cold
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter very cold
• 3/4 cups buttermilk or whole milk
• milk for brushing biscuits

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees (425 for convection oven)
• Mix dry ingredients together well.
• Chop butter and goat cheese into small pieces. Place in freezer for 10 minutes.
• Using hands, mix into flour mixture, making sure not to smear in, leaving small pieces.
• Add in milk and mix using wooden spoon
• Form into a ball and pat down.
• Cut with biscuit cutter.
• Place on baking stone, or cast iron pan or griddle, touching.
• See this post for biscuit tips.
• Brush with milk (to aid in browning)
• Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

The post Goat Cheese Biscuits and Food Movies appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

If you love goat cheese, you’ll love this frosting. It’s unique, slightly tart, sweet, creamy. It works on all kinds of cake flavors.

I’d like to see this goat cheese frosting on these cakes.

Chocolate Sundae Cupcakes by Spinach Tiger.

Apple Cider Donut Cake by Two in the Kitchen

Maple Cake by Spinach Tiger

White Wedding Cake Cupcakes by Recipe Girl

Frost Bitten Raspberry Cake by Vikalinka

Lemon Blueberry Cake from Cooking Classy

What cake could you see underneath this tasty goat cheese frosting?

This makes Post 14 in 15 days, part of a personal challenge in my #30dayanything challenge, something I just decided to do to push myself. More on this coming. Today, I thought maybe my next 30 Day Anything Challenge would be something like creating 30 different cake recipes in 30 days, but whoa then I’d have to lose 30 pounds.

I found many of the above cake recipes on Pinterest. You can follow Spinach Tiger’s Pin Boards here.

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Goat Cheese Cream Cheese Frosting

A smooth, sweet, creamy goat cheese frosting perfect for almost any kind of cake.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 3 cups

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 8 ounces goat cheese
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1/2 cup butter 1 stick
• 2 tablespoons cream or milk
• 6 cups confectioner's sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

• Bring all cheese and butter to room temperature.
• Mix salt and confectioners sugar together.
• Mix cream cheese, goat cheese, butter together until very smooth.
• Add the confectioner's sugar one cup at a time.
• If it's too thick at end, add milk.

The post Goat Cheese Frosting appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

In my previous post I gave you a tutorial on risotto, the ins the outs and all the things I’ve learned to try to make that perfect risotto, creamy and chewy in texture and I showed you these three risottos that I made all at the same time. Perhaps, if I had a restaurant, I would serve a trio of risotto and be the talk of the town, if I could pull it off.

Red beets do the pleasure of delivering an earthy, bright flavor, while bringing a fabulous color to every grain of that lovely Arborio rice.

The most unique part of the this recipe is that I used raw beets and added them in rather quickly to the rice mixture. You can grate the beets or use a Vitamix as I did, which worked well with a few pulses. I used basil to garnish, as its a wonderful flavor enhancer to the sultry red beets, taking notes from this red beet pesto.

I just saw a golden beets risotto over at Summer Tomato and they topped the risotto with the beet greens, something I will want to do next time I make red beet risotto.

Please go to the article on how to make risotto for lots of help in perfecting this dish and go to this extremely popular post which lists ten heath benefits of beets.

Red beet risotto may be a very non-traditional risotto, but one that will bring excitement to a meal.

More Risotto from Spinach Tiger

Melted Tuscan Kale Risotto

Sweet Potato Risotto

Caramelized Onion, Sweet Corn Risotto

Risotto 101, Everything you Need to Know 

Risotto Cakes

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Red Beet Risotto with Goat Cheese

A twist on traditional risotto, red beet risotto is great as a first course or and would be a great side for a red meet dish such as skirt steak.

Course Red Beet Pesto with Goat Cheese

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 red beet
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large shallot
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar or balsamic
• 1/4 cup parmigiana reggiano
• 2 tablespoons goat cheese
• salt
• pepper
• 1 tablespoon basil

Instructions

• Either grate the red beet or place in Vitamix with a tablespoon of olive oil and pulse to grate, which is what I did.
• Heat chicken broth in separate pot. Once hot, turn to simmer.
• Melt butter and In a 10 inch stainless steel frying pan or an enamled cast iron small dutch oven. Add olive oil.
• Add chopped shallots and cook until translucent.
• Add in grated red beets.
• Add in dry arborio rice and toast for four minutes, stirring.
• Have a lid ready to immediately cover when you put the first ladle of broth.
• Add ½ cup broth. Cover for a few seconds to avoid any reaction from hot broth hitting the hot fat. Uncover.
• Stir until the broth is nearly all absorbed in the rice.
• Add another ½ cup broth and repeat until there is only ½ cup broth left to add.
• Add in vinegar. Continue to stir.
• Add in broth ¼ cup at a time at the end, so as to not overcook the rice. At the end of about 18 minutes, you should be at the end of the broth. Taste the rice. If it gives yet still has a bite, take it off. If it crunches, then cook another minute, stirring constantly. If you run out of broth and you’re sure the rice is not done, add a small amount of water, (tablespoon or so).
• Remove from stove, Stir in goat cheese. Stir in grated cheese. Season with salt and pepper.
• Serve immediately. Garnish with chopped parsley.This will serve 2 big servings.

The post Red Beet Risotto with Goat Cheese appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Red Beet & Bacon Truffle Honey Goat Cheese Flat Bread the week AFTER I post the 25 best red beet recipes on the internet might sound a little insane, a bit backwards, but it only proves I put my beets where my mouth is. After all, it was Valentine’s Day. I told you the science behind beets as an aphrodisiac. Did you not think I would serve beets on February 14th?

We decided to dine at home on Valentine’s Day and invite another couple over. I had a menu set in my mind all week, which had to be altered slightly because the grocery stores didn’t get all their shipments in (snow storms in 49 out of 50 states). Nashville, however, didn’t get a snowflake. It would have been nice to see a snow covered  landscape, but all we got were school closings with no snow. Storms, tornados and hail came at us on Thursday. Today, we’re taking a walk in shorts. Later this week, we’ll see a low of 21. We are a confused weather city. While some cities run to the grocery store because a snow storm is on the way, we run because a rain storm is on the way. Seriously!

Fortunately on Valentine’s Day, the weather was friendly.

I settled on a menu of rack of lamb with Brussels sprouts, buttery fingerling potatoes, and individual flourless chocolate cakes. I needed an appetizer because I couldn’t roast the lamb until company arrived. I wanted something special ready to serve, and I wanted red beets! Stonefire Authentic Flatbreads sent me a shipment earlier in the week which gave me the inspiration to make a beet and bacon flat appetizer.

I get a lot of products sent and I only mention the ones I’m truly in love with. I won’t recommend a product that I’m not positive will bring you a good experience. I can wholeheartedly recommend these products. The difference is in the taste and the texture. Stonefire products have no preservatives and are a very high quality bread. I was able to try the pita, the naan and the wholewheat flatbread. I can’t pick a favorite because all were exceptional. The pita bread has a very good flavor, not dry like many pita breads are.

Because there are no preservatives in the Stonefire products, I immediately froze them.

The wholewheat flat bread baked very nicely, crispy but chewy at the same time, and is the perfect bottom for an appetizer. I roasted beets, bought some local goat cheese and used some coveted truffle honey along with a garnish of bacon. The combination of flavors was compelling, sweet and earthy, especially with that little nuance of truffle honey. The good news about no preservatives is the taste difference, but they must be eaten fairly quickly. I froze everything and was so impressed with how fresh the breads tasted when defrosted. As far the flatbread pizza, I assembled it as frozen, and it baked in about twenty minutes.

Tablescaping:  I love tulips and this was wonderful way to celebrate Valentine’s Day and wish for Spring! I used a cream colored burlap underneath a more traditional piece of burlap to make the table rustic, yet festive. Notice the little milk jars serving as vases, and the mason jars holding those gorgeous white tulips (my favorite flower).

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Red Beet & Bacon, Goat Cheese on Stonefire Flat Bread with Giveaway

Red beets, bacon and goat cheese top Stonefire flat breads for an elegant, yet rustic appetizer.

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 whole wheat Stonefire flat bread
• 4 to 6 ounces of goat cheese
• 1 to 2 tablespoons honey (saving some for a drizzle
• 2 small roasted red beets
• 1 tablespoon olive oil may not use it all
• 3 slices crumbled bacon smokey bacon is a great option

Roasting beets

• 2 small beets or one large beet

Instructions

• Cut the roasted beets into cubes. Season with salt and pepper, and toss with olive oil. Set aside
• Mix the honey with the goat cheese to the sweetness you prefer.
• Spread over the flat bread.
• Top with the beets. Drizzle a little honey. Add crumbled bacon.
• Bake at 400 degrees until the underneath of flatbread is crispy. 10-20 minutes. I used a frozen flatbread, so it took about twenty minutes.
• Drizzle with honey, prior to serving.
• This makes an appetizer for 4 to 6 people or an entree for 2.

Roasting Beets

• Peel beets, coat with olive oil. Wrap in foil. Roast at 300 degrees for 45 minutes.
• Cool before cutting.

The post Red Beet & Bacon, Goat Cheese on Stonefire Flat Bread appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

If I knew it was so easy to make ravioli with won ton wrappers, I would have done this ages ago. Easy, heart shaped, goat cheese and beet ravioli are just the kind of fun Valentine’s Day food I like to make. Eating just a few can feel so rich and decadent, I might forgo that box of candy especially when drizzled with a bit of truffle honey.

This month’s theme for the Creative Cooking Crew is dumplings.  I could think past Chinese dumplings, which I love, but I have little experience with Asian cooking and I’m keeping a tight pantry lately, in trying to simplify my life. I didn’t want to have a long list of ingredients I might only use once. but what was to stop me from making my own version of pot stickers skipping right past Asian flavors and grabbing onto something I’m very familiar with.  Beets and goat cheese. To remain true to myself, I created something easy and approachable with a minimum of ingredients, yet fun, delicious and innovative.

The red beet  and goat cheese mixture is beautiful and when stuffed inside a wonton wrapper, the bright pink color shows through. I pan fried the ravioli with diced red beets to turn the dough a beautiful beet red color.  I glistened the ravioli with a bit of truffle honey, but you could also rest them in some butter and shallots or use plain honey.

I made a few round shaped pot sticker-type dumplings, by pan frying, steaming.

I also made a version closer to a dumpling for soup accompanied by the beet greens.  Saute Beet greens with olive oil and garlic.

I knew in my heart I wanted a red beet goat cheese filling.   I combined goat cheese with cream cheese and pureed a fresh raw red beet. I did this with a  Vitamix that will crush the raw beets as I did with red beet pesto. However, you can roast or boil the beet, if you are using a food processor. I added a touch of sweetness by way of a peach habanero jelly. I liked the heat and sweet, but you could opt for something else like honey or a different jam or go savory with salt and pepper.

Whichever way you choose to use won ton wrappers, know that they are versatile and make a very good ravioli in a pinch. It’s easy to cut them into the heart shapes (for Valentine’s fun), or pinch them into a round dumpling. The beet and goat cheese filling is tasty, colorful and a nice surprise.

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Make Beet & Goat Cheese Ravioli Hearts with Won Ton Wrappers

Won Ton Heart Shaped Ravioli or dumplings made with beets and goat cheese.

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 2 red beets
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 8 ounces goat cheese
• 1 tablespoon flavored jelly or honey I used peach habanero
• 16 wonton wrappers
• 1- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or butter

Instructions

• Peel beets. Roast one beet to be used for mixture.
• Dice one beet to be used to stir fry with ravioli. (Optional)
• Mix together cream cheese, goat cheese with jelly or honey.
• Roast red beets for 40 minutes at 375 until softened. Dice red beets. Place 1/2 cup or more of diced cooked red beets into food processor with cheese mixture, and mix until completely iincorporated.
• Wet the edges of two wrappers Put a teaspoon full of beet, goat cheese mixture on one. Top with wrapper. Cut out heart shape. Cover with damp cloth, as you continue to make ravioli. You can freeze them at this point.
• To cook, submerge in boiling water until they float to the top about 5 minutes.
• From this point, you can make eat cooked ravioli with butter. To get that red look, pan fry with remaining diced red beets with a tablespoon of butter. Once ravioli is cooked, toss in the pan with beets and cook a few more minutes tossing the beets over and under the ravioli. They will assume that deep beautiful color.
• Serve with the beets as a garnish.

Beet Goat Cheese Potstickers

• Place cheese mixture in center of won ton wrapper. Wet both sides of both wontons. Top with wonton, and pleat edges. Cover with damp cloth as you are making.
• Place very small amount of oil into a frying plan. Pan fry for 4 minutes without turning on medium heat. Add in hot broth or a little boiling water. Cover and steam to complete cooking for a few more minutes.

To make soup: Put ravioli or pot sticker into chicken broth. Add sauteed beet greens, finely chopped.

Notes

One option to fry the ravioli in is to use this red beet pesto.

The post Make Heart Shaped Beet & Goat Cheese Ravioli with Won Ton Wrappers appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

I did this recipe years ago but it was featured as a French Tomato tart instead of a goat cheese, honey tomato tart, the name it deserved all along. I wasn’t proud of how it came out or what my photos looked like, but that all changed the other day when I made it over for a Food Blogger’s Picnic.

The tart sat there very nicely on the table along with my now legendary kale salad, Lisa’s amazing amazing pimento cheese deviled eggs and Scarlet’s frittata served in a cast iron pan.

Now let’s be honest. No one is going to take a dish to the Nashville Food Blogger’s picnic that they can’t share proudly with the whole world. So I did it over!

How many times in life have you heard yourself saying, “I want a do over” or  if I could only go back and change what I did or what I said, or where I drove.

Just the other day, I was driving my slow pokey self on a side street to pick up Mr. ST at a truck rental place and a cop stopped me and said I was going 15 miles over the 30 mile limit. I have to be honest. I think he made it up.

Everyone that knows me knows I’m a slow, carefree driver, not usually in a hurry, because driving is my thinking time and I enjoy it. I admit I was intensely preoccupied with the news regarding the Naval Base shooting, but I am quite certain his radar or whatever he used was for the driver in front of me. For the rest of the day, I fantasized about taking a different route. I turned on that side street when I could have just gone straight.

To make matters worse, I was in my most unattractive moment and trust me, I think I could have managed a warning had I combed my hair. Sexist thinking you say? Get over it. He had a gun and tablet full of tickets that he could write anyway he chose to, and I have my own weapons, aka make up and a flat iron, none of which I was armed with. So now I have to face traffic court, a big fat fine and/or go to the judge properly armed and plead not guilty. Sounds so 1950’s you say. Well, how 1950’s is it to get a speeding ticket at 45 miles per hour. (which I still say I wasn’t driving). If my speeding ticket (the first of my life by the way) was going 85 in a 70, then that would take us to 2013 and I would just say, “officer, you should ticket me.”

I can’t do that day over, the same day that Mr. ST went to the emergency room with a splinter under his nail, but I can make over this tart and tell you just a little more about why a tart crust is different from a pie crust. It should hold together more, be flaky but a little stiffer and that’s where adding in an egg helps. Often, I’ve made my pie crust without eggs and I’m fairly good at adjusting pie dough, but adding in the egg is a big help to the beginner, when baking a tart that you are hoping will slice nicely and stay in one piece.

The honey in the goat cheese honey tomato tart is the real secret, and now that I’ve resurrected this recipe, it is something I want to make over and over again. Use lots of honey. Don’t be afraid for the tomatoes to be honey kissed all over. The combination is simply divine, heavenly, sweet, all balanced by the tanginess of the goat cheese which is also drizzled with plenty of honey. This reminds me of an appetizer I made years ago that was a big hit and never made again, but while I’m thinking of it, perhaps bring it to the next blogger’s together or holiday party.

I saw the goat cheese, honey, tomato tart years ago on this blog. I was captivated by the fact that it was baked in Paris and had romantic appeal and swept me off my feet. My pictures never turned out quite right and I didn’t enjoy the tart the way I should have. But, today is a new day.

This is an amazing recipe that has me so re-excited, I am going to try it several different ways. Just the tomato with the goat cheese with the honey is enough of a flavor busting combination to make me want to give it a paleo twist. Never would I think that honey should touch tomatoes.

Never would I think that a grainy mustard belongs in this combination. But it does and when you taste all three together with a backdrop of tart crust, you will smile. Smile big. I promise. It will take you by surprise the way the boy you didn’t like all that much kisses really well and you go wow! (or girl). It’s the nice surprise of the day.

I used my end of season tomatoes, some honey cultivated via blueberries, and a good goat cheese log. Surpassing the recipe for tart crust, I simply added an egg to my own basic pie crust, but changed the quantities and added in a egg yolk.

So tell me, what’s the one thing you did this past year that you would love to have a do over for?

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Goat Cheese, Honey, Tomato Tart

Goat cheese, honey, tomatoes comes together to make a delicious end of summer or anytime tart with fresh herbs adapted from David Lebovitz.

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 40 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

Tart Crust (makes 1 large tart)

• 1 1/2 flour
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 9 tablespoons unsalted butter placed in freezer for 15 minutes
• 1 tablespoons iced cold water
• 1 egg yolk

Goat Cheese Honey Tart

• 1 tart shell or pie crust
• 2 tablespoons of dark grainy mustard or enough to cover bottom of tart
• herbs such as thyme tarragon, basil
• 3 large meaty tomatoes not too juicy sliced thickly
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 8 ounces of goat cheese in a log easy to slice
• 2 tablespoons of honey may use more

Instructions

Tart Crust

• Using a food processor:
• Using a food processor, mix together flour, sugar, salt.
• Blend in butter and on medium speed, count to 10 seconds.
• Blend in water and blend for a few seconds.
• Blend in egg.
• Bring together to form a dough ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes at least.
• Using your hands:
• Mix together the dry ingredients. Blend in the butter until you have a mealy flour mixture. Add in water and egg and knead gently until the dough forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Roll out to three inches more than size of tart pan.
• Gently place in tart pan, and using rolling pin, roll off the edges.

Goat Cheese Honey Tart

• Fork the bottom of the tart shell. Spread on mustard until the base is covered.
• Cover with a scattering of fresh herbs.
• Arrange slices of tomato, keeping in mind that tomatoes do shrink.
• Drizzle olive oil over tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.
• Arrange 6 to 8 round discs of goat cheese cut about 1/2 inch thick on top of the tomatoes.
• Drizzle honey over the entire tart, saving some honey for drizzling once tart is out of the oven.
• Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. If making smaller tarts, reduce baking time.
• Goat cheese will bubble and turn a golden brown. Serve hot or at room temperature.
• Add more fresh herbs.

Notes

I found it best using lots of honey.

The post Goat Cheese, Honey, Tomato Tart with Gluten Free Option appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Rhubarb slides through the season quickly, and I was fortunate to find it at Whole Foods. We have a wonderful local goat farm in the area, and I’m happy to say after many hours in the kitchen with three pounds of rhubarb, it pairs splendidly with goat cheese in several different ways.

My original intention was to do a duck confit stuffed with rhubarb goat cheese served with a rhubarb gastrique.  I made a wonderful gastrique with rhubarb and various vinegars, a little sugar and a touch of strawberries. It was dark, thick, inspiring in flavor but, I couldn’t find duck legs anywhere.

I looked out of my kitchen window and I saw the squash blossoms were sprinkling gold everywhere. A new idea was born. Rhubarb compote with goat cheese stuffed into squash blossoms, battered, fried crispy and served with roasted rhubarb. I’ve made squash blossoms before and those I purchased, but it’s really fun to do something with the blossoms that show up every day in the garden.

Three of the four ingredients are local. I picked the strawberries at Bradley’s Kountry Acres. The cheese comes from Noble Springs Dairy,  a few miles a way, and the squash blossoms and herbs come from my own garden.

At first I made a simple compote using chopped rhubarb and some hand-picked strawberries. I added in sugar as I needed to and boiled it down until it had a very pleasant taste. Rhubarb is tart and needs something sweet, even if its going to be served savory.

The compote was mixed in with the goat cheese, about 1 tablespoon per 1/3 cup of goat cheese. This is good all by itself. I used all male squash blossoms, some from zucchini, some from yellow squash and this recipe for the batter. These were served with a roasted rhubarb. This was one of the best surprises of the three ways I made rhubarb. I had some very ripe strawberries and I marinated the rhubarb with a few smashed strawberries and roasted about 10 minutes until just soft enough to eat, but still in whole form.

The bite of squash blossom with the bite of roasted rhubarb is a perfect starter course for a meal where each course must contain goat cheese and rhubarb.This is one that would easily become a signature dish at the Pink Goat in the springtime.

Please visit my teammates to see their dishes:  Victoria @ Mission Food, and Bren @ Flanboyant Eats.

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The Pink Goat: Squash Blossoms Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Roasted Rhubarb

Squash Blossoms stuffed with goat cheese and rhubarb compote, crispy fried.

Servings 2

Ingredients

• 6 male squash blossoms with at least a one inch stem
• 6 teaspoons goat cheese
• 1 tablespoon rhubarb compote
• 1 teaspoons chopped fresh herbs chives, thyme, basil, parsely, etc.
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• coconut oil for frying

Instructions

• Gently rinse off squash blossoms, checking for bugs inside.
• Remove inside stem.
• Drain on paper towels.
• Mix goat cheese, herbs and rhubarb compote together.
• Gently stuff flowers with 1 teaspoon of goat cheese. Some flowers are larger and can use more. You want to have enough room at top of flower to close flower completely.
• Mix water and flour into a batter. Dip flower into batter.
• Heat a heavy bottomed pan with 1 inch of oil until oil is at 375 degrees.
• I use a kernel of corn. When it pops, my oil is ready.
• Fry a few minutes on each side until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Serve with roasted rhubarb.

Notes

If you don't have a rhubarb compote, you can mix goat cheese with a favorite jam or preserve, or just use herbs, salt and pepper.

Recipe for Rhubarb Compote
2 large stalks rhubarb
2 cups strawberries
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar (more if needed)
Bring everything to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer for 10 minutes or until rhubarb is softened. If there is too much liquid in pan, remove fruit and continue to simmer liquid until reduced. Mix back in with fruit. Cool completely before mixing with goat cheese.

The post Squash Blossoms Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Roasted Rhubarb Compote appeared first on Spinach Tiger.