Simple & delicious: Figs, goats cheese & honey

Recently, I was really surprised, when I found a few ripe figs in our garden. That's a quite unusual for this time, but what a pleasure to enjoy this simple light salad for lunch!

So, there's no recipe, just a couple figs drizzled with liquid honey and 3-4 tablespoons of fresh goats cheese on top of it. So simple, so good!

I'm desperately waiting for rest of our fig harvest. So many ideas in my head.

Eggplant and zucchini crumble with goats cheese cream - Crumble au fromage de chevre

Ingredients:
1 eggplant (skin removed and cut into pieces)
2 zucchini (cut into pieces)
1 red bell pepper (cut into small pieces)
3 tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 onion medium size (finely chopped)
2 sprigs thyme
1 sprig rosemary
120 g goat cheese
100 ml cream (low fat)

For the crumble:
200 g flour
100 g butter
1 egg yolk
salt, black pepper

Rub butter with flour, salt, and egg yolk until form crumbles, transfer to a plate and put the fridge for 20 minutes.

Make small cross-shaped slits on tomatoes, put them in boiling water and immediately dipped in cold water.
Clear tomatoes from the skin and seeds, cut into pieces.

Sprinkle eggplant with sugar and allow to drain the liquid for 20 minutes.

Discard the excess moisture from eggplant. Heat oil in a heavy base saucepan, add thyme and rosemary.

Sauté onions and garlic until transparent, then add bell pepper and tomatoes. Cook until peppers are soft. Puree sauce in blender.

Separately sauté eggplant until soft, then add zucchini and tomato sauce. Cook on low heat for about 5 minutes, add salt, pepper and spices to taste.

Put crumbles on lined with paper baking sheet and bake in a pre-heated to 200 C oven until golden brown (about 15 min)

Heat the cream and mix with goat cheese (I use blender). Add salt and pepper and mix until smooth consistency.

Put vegetables in a serving glasses, add cheese cream on top and sprinkle with crumbles.



Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Carina-forum

Goat Cheese and Beetroot Soup

This is one of my favorite soups - a little bit sweet, creamy and rich. Delicious with pumpernickel bread.  

500 g beetroot, peeled and cut into small cubes
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes
1 onion, peeled and cut on 2 pieces
1.5 l vegetable or chicken stock
150 g creamy goat cheese with herbs (if unavailable use cream cheese with herbs), at room temperature
4 tbsp chopped dill
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring the stock into boil, add the vegetables and cook for 15-20 minutes, until vegetables are soft. Put the soup in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

Put soup on a heat and add a half of goat cheese. Simmer until cheese is disolved, then add salt and pepper to taste and pour a cream. Allow it to heat well, but do not bring it to boil.

Make 4 balls from remaining cheese and cover them with chopped dill. Put one ball in each bowl and serve.

Beetroot cheesecakes with goat cheese and salmon

I love combination of beetroot and smoked or salted salmon. In this recipe all components are perfectly balanced. An interesting light lunch or good accompaniment for boiled potatoes.


For 4 small cheesecakes:
4 slices of Pampernikel bread (any dense rye bread),
125 gr. cream cheese at room temperature,
60 gr. fresh goat cheese,
5 tablespoons sour cream,
1 tablespoon gelatin,
2 tbsp orange juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tbsp chopped dill,
1 tsp grated orange zest,
125 gr. boiled beetroot pureed in blender,
150 ml. double cream
160 gr. salted salmon.

Soak gelatin in 2 tablespoons of water.

Cut out circles of bread using mold rings. Place mold rings on the tray laid with parchment paper and put bread circle in each mold ring.

Mix cream cheese and goat cheese and whip in a blender at low speed until smooth, add sour cream and beat again slightly. Add lemon and orange juice, zest and dill.

Heat the gelatin in the microwave for 20-30 seconds and stir until completely dissolved. Pour the gelatin in the beetroot puree. Mix beetroot with cheese mixture, add salt and pepper to taste.

Whip the cream until soft peaks and add to the beetroot mass. Fill prepared mold rings with cheese mixture.  Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Remove cheesecakes from the molds, top with chopped salted salmon, garnish with dill or chives.

Enjoy!

Goat cheese and caramelized figs bruschetta

Ingredients for 1 serving:
2 slices baguette,
2 tbsp fresh goat cheese,
1 fig,
olive oil,
1 tsp butter,
1 tsp Dark Muscovado sugar,
1 tsp vodka or whiskey.

Sprinkle pieces of baguette with olive oil and brown them on the grill.

In a small frying pan or a heavy-bottomed skillet melt the butter with sugar, put sliced figs in caramel and fry them for 1 minute on each side. Then pour the alcohol, wait until it all evaporated, remove from heat.

Put crushed cheese and sliced figs on slightly cooled bread .



Enjoy!