Showing posts with label goat cheese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label goat cheese. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Sides dishes for steak!

I love steak but I don't think I had ever bought myself a steak at the grocery store to cook at home. It just seems decadent, I guess. But yesterday was the day. Steaks on the grill for dinner and they were yummy. Plus, our dinner guest made a darn good imitation of A-1 sauce by combining ketchup, worcestershire sauce, and Heinz 57 chili sauce. However, I thought it would be more interesting to post about our sides. I opted for potatoes and spinach, which seemed like the classics.

I was tempted to make creamed spinach but it seemed way too rich.
We often saute spinach with feta cheese and pine nuts, but with no feta I used goat cheese instead.
First, I toasted about 1/4C of pine nuts in a dry pan over med-high heat. I am really good at forgetting about toasting nuts and letting them go too far. It is very easy because they go quickly from perfect to burnt.
This time I stayed close to the stove, shook the pan often, and turned off the heat when they started to smell toasty and delicious. The smell even rivaled the grill just outside on the deck.
Next I cooked 2 cloves of minced garlic in about 1T olive oil.
Once fragrant but not browned, I added the spinach. I covered it for a few minutes and then stirred it to combine the oil, garlic, and spinach.
Once it was all wilted, I added the pine nuts and about 2 ounces of goat cheese. I drained a little of the water out of the pan because I was worried that the cheese would mix with the water and lose its richness. It did melt all over the spinach but did not lose the creaminess.

For our potato side dish, we grilled tiny red potatoes in foil. I wrapped up the spuds in three layers of foil with 1T olive oil, salt, pepper, and several sprigs of fresh rosemary.
We wrapped up the package and let it cook on the edge of the grill. It is good to rotate the foil package around from side to side and to flip it over from top to bottom. The potatoes were on the grill for about 30-35 minutes total. Yum!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Lentils everyone will love!

This is a cold lentil salad that everyone will love. A couple of summers ago my husband's cousin lived with us for a few months. When I would make this salad, which is usually enough as a side dish for about 8 people, he and my husband would polish it off in one night. And neither of them like lentils. Hmmm. The saddest part of that story is that this salad is great the next day so peering in that empty bowl was always a disappointment.
I got this recipe from my aunt who makes this every year at the beach. It is a favorite there too. I am not quite sure how she scales this up to feed nearly 20 people, but it is always a hit!

1 1/2C green lentils
6C chicken stock
1 garlic clove, whole and pierced with a toothpick
1t herbes de Provence
1 small bay leaf


1 tomato (the recipe calls for the tomato to be peeled, seeded, and chopped, but I just chop it)
3 green onions, finely chopped including some of the green tops
1T fresh parsley, chopped (I use about 2T)
1T capers, drained (I use about 2T)
Rinse and pick at the lentils. Put lentils in pan with stock, garlic, herbes de Provence, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer uncovered. Cook the lentils until tender, about 20 minutes, and be careful not to overcook them as they will turn to MUSH! Drain the lentils and leave them to cool. Remove the bay leaf and garlic clove.

Once cool, put the lentils in a bowl with the tomato, onions, parsley and capers. Whisk the vinaigrette (see below), add to the lentils, and toss. Sprinkle crumbled goat cheese (recipe calls for 2 1/2 ounces of chevre and I use about 4 ounces) on top and serve, or chill and serve.

Vinaigrette
1/2C olive oil (I use about 1/4C)
2T lemon juice
1t Dijon mustard
1/2t salt
fresh ground black pepper