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Posts tagged goat cheese

30th Jan 2011

Chicken with Herbed Goat Cheese and Sun Dried Tomato

My parents are both amazing cooks and much of my love and respect for cooking and eating comes from growing up in a household where most of our meals were cooked from (mostly) scratch. But what ignited my insatiable curiosity about new recipes, unfamiliar ingredients, and different flavor combinations was actually the Food Network. Cooking shows brought recipes into my home and through powerful visual persuasion (mouth-watering closeups of fresh ingredients and sizzling sautée pans), encouraged me to try these recipes at home. One of my favorite shows is the incredible and magnanimous Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa, with her to-die-for luxurious Hampton kitchen, effortless parties and luncheons, charmingly goofy Jeffrey, and fabulous table-decorating friends. Her recipes are simple, classic, and rich with quality ingredients that produce seemingly extravagant dishes.

This recipe is representative of Ina’s recipes: simple ingredients, but the end result feels luxurious and completely disguises its humble beginnings. A weekday chicken dish can be transformed into extravagance befitting a weekend dinner party by baking herbed goat cheese, sun dried tomatoes, and fresh basil underneath the skin until oozy, crispy, and totally delicious.

Chicken with Herbed Goat Cheese and Sun Dried Tomato
adapted from Ina Garten, Food Network

3 boneless chicken breasts, skin-on
4 to 5 ounces garlic-and-herb goat cheese (Ina recommends Montrachet)
3 sun-dried tomatoes, julienned
Fresh basil leaves (optional)
Good olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan. (I prepped mine on a cutting board, then moved them to a cast iron skillet for baking.)
Loosen the skin from the meat with your fingers, leaving 1 side attached.
Cut the goat cheese into 1/2-inch-thick slices and place 1 or 2 slices plus 1/3 of the julienned sun-dried tomatoes under the skin of each chicken breast (and, if using, 1-2 fresh basil leaves).
Pull the skin over as much of the meat as possible so the chicken won’t dry out.
With your fingers, rub each piece with olive oil, and sprinkle them very generously with salt and pepper.
Bake the chicken for 35 to 40 minutes (in the cast iron skillet, mine cooked in about 25 minutes), until the skin is lightly browned and the chicken is just cooked through.

21st Sep 2010 | 2 notes

Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms

Holy neglected food blog (flog?)! The time has just been whizzing by, and I seriously have had some sort of draft for this deliciousness for like a week. But I have to get this out there, on the small chance that you TOO could find zucchini blossoms and try this before summer truly disappears (sigh)!

About two weeks before I started this post, I was able pick up a small bunch of delicate, happy zucchini blossoms at the nearby farmer’s market. I have never had zucchini blossoms before but had been dying to try stuffing them with cheesy goodness and then deep-frying them until crispy ever since I saw Giada do it in her beautiful expansive todiefor kitchen overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

The recipe is really quite simple, and as someone who doesn’t normally fry things in her kitchen for fear of hot splattering oil, ~~inevitable~~ potential burns, and the uncertainty of what to do with used oil, I whole-heartedly encourage you to heat up a few cups of oil because it’s TOTALLY WORTH IT.

I filled the blossoms with a combination of melty mozzarella and creamy goat cheese, seasoned with salt and pepper and fresh basil. The batter is simply equal parts flour and soda water to form the lightest crispy shell. The crispy exterior gives way to the soft creamy cheese, and the blossoms do taste every so slightly like zucchinis. It was totally awesome.

Grilled Peach, Crispy Prosciutto, Goat Cheese and Arugula Salad

When did it suddenly become fall? It feels like just yesterday I was complaining about the sauna-like conditions of my apartment (which may have been beneficial for the detoxification of the pores on my face, but was not so much for my stove-top or baking endeavors). There is already a slight chill in the air and the streets of Boston and Cambridge (and the Esplanade!) are buzzing with students, returning and incoming, all bright and cheery-eyed from their summer breaks, eager to catch up with friends and optimistic about their fall semester classes. I remember those days, I couldn’t WAIT to go to the stationary store for new pencils, assorted highlighters, and notebooks! More importantly, today is the first Sunday of the NFL regular season, and I can’t WAIT to veg out on the couch and one game after another (and hopefully stream the 49ers game online!). With the start of a new football season and a new school year, it means that pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin scones, the holidays, and snow are not far behind!

But before we settle into fall and winter cooking, I wanted to share a summertime salad. I made this a few weeks ago when it was still sweltering and the most comfortable way to cook was to grill outside. Sweet peaches are grilled and paired with salty prosciutto, crisped up on the stove (think bacon-style; if you’ve never had prosciutto this way, DO IT and add it to your pasta, your breakfast sandwich, or your salad- and you may never miss bacon again).