Thursday, August 27, 2009

It's National Goat Cheese Month!

Don't pretend you had no idea. You know you did.

Okay, so everyone tends to get a bit...over zealous... with the months these days (um, apparently August is also National Catfish Month, National Peach Month, and filed firmly under a category quite aptly named "Didn't See That One Coming," I will note that in Tipton County, Tennessee, August 8th is National Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night), but goat cheese IS kind of awesome so I thought I'd share my latest recipe, and by recipe I mean I chucked the following foods into a bowl and prayed to the gods of appetite not to forsake me.

They listened. All those animal sacrifices DO work!

At any rate, I know I'm also slow to catch on to fads of any kind (that's definitely a New Englander thing) but the internet has been all abuzz lately with talk of beet and goat cheese recipes.

So being a true, die-hard fan of goat cheese, I thought I'd take a stab (no pun intended) at a beet and goat cheese salad.

Again, to reiterate, I'm not a cook, I'm an artist, which means I can't give you exact amounts or reproduce exactly what I've cooked, ever. This is also why I'm an actor, people... the key is to keep people's expectations low, and if I hit my mark and remember all my lines on set I get a treat and a pat on the head from the director.

K, here we go!

Ingredients:

Goat cheese
(I like the non-seasoned goat cheese from Trader Joe's)

Beets
(Trader Joe's also has ready-made beets, but serve them cold for the salad)

Arugula

pecans or another type of candied nut
(if you don't like nuts in your salad, because I don't either, make sure the dressing you use is sweet to bring out the flavor of the goat cheese and beets.)

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar
(to make up for the lack of sweet nuts, I used my blackberry ginger balsamic vinegar and it freakin' rocked)

Toss everything in a bowl until the goat cheese is creamy. Also, you might need something hard or crunchy to give the salad texture. Next time I make it I'm gonna try those Chinese dried noodle things. I'll let you know how it works out.

So go forth, celebrate August in all its monthly awareness awesomeness, and eat goat cheese and peaches and catfish and your neighbor's zucchini, just not all at once.


PS I got the picture here, with this story. Apparently dogs like goat cheese just as much as humans :)

13 comments:

Jo said...

National Goat Cheese AND National Peach Month!! Those are two of my favorites!! I love August!!
:)
And that is an adorable pic, by the way.

Iva Messy said...

ohhh I love Goat Cheese!! I had no idea it had its own month!!:)

LenoreNeverM♡re said...

I certainly must mark my calendar for next year...haha! That photo is too cute!!

Archana said...

That picture is so cute! :D As for national months and days celebrating food, it cracks me up. A local market here had a discount on milk when it was apparently National Milk Day. Yup, lol.

Unknown said...

oh yes, i had Goat Cheese month marked on my calendar! always a treasured month in my life. ;-)
xox

Sarah Alaoui said...

That sounds so yum. I love TJ cheese.

Deech said...

So, I am a Cheese lover by nature. However, the real joke comes in to play that I have been made lactose intolerant....

Wine and Words said...

Trader Joes ROCKS! Beets...not so much. It is the one food I cannot stomach, at all. I write the newsletter for our CSA Farm and am always looking for a good beet recipe. Thanks!

jenn said...

every month should be goat cheese month. i could eat it at every meal!!! i had goat cheese ravioli the other day, and almost thought i'd died and gone to heaven. :)

Kristin Quinn said...

You took the dog and goat photo? Wow. I really love that.

Phoenix said...

Ack! Kristin -- nope, didn't take that photo. Only the uncredited photos on my blog are mine (hence the lack of credit...) -- all others I make sure to give credit for. That pic came from a news article and I included the link at the end of my post.

Miss you, girl...

MildlySensational said...

Zucchini led to screen doors having locks in the South. It grows very quickly & it's way too easy to end up with surplus you can't use. Common practice was to leave baskets of zucchini inside your neighbor's back door-which was the kitchen door & was usually open due to the heat. Because really, who looks twice at a basket full of zucchini in a working kitchen in the South? So, they added hook/eye locks to screen doors to keep out unwanted zucchini. Trufax. :)

drollgirl said...

i am a loser and have never tried beets. i love the COLOR, but am afraid to put it in my MOUTH. chickenshit, no? must try them. scared, but must try them.

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