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| COOKING
WITH FRENCH GOAT'S CHEESES |
FOOD
& COOKING ARTICLE |
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Chef
Sophie Wright shows you delicious recipes to tantalise
your taste buds using France's finest goat's cheeses
 When
we think about cooking with cheese we tend to think
of using parmesan in our pasta, or some mature cheddar
topped on toast, but there are a lot of different recipes
out there involving cheese and similarly there are a
lot of different cheeses.
In fact in France alone, there are over 1,000 different
kinds of cheeses made, that range from Camembert to
Époisses and of course the well known goat’s
cheese which delight’s everyone’s palate.
This creamy cheese comes in lots of flavours and textures
from the mildest soft cheese to the hardest strong cheese
and tastes great when baked in the oven and spread on
bread. Made all over France and especially in the Loire
Valley and Poitou regions, goat’s cheese is great
tasting and also makes a fantastic alternative for those
that are allergic to cow’s milk.
In this video, chef Sophie Wright shows you just how
easy it is to create a simple but tasty goat’s
cheese log slice, roasted beetroot and parsnip salad
that you can enjoy anytime.
Sophie Wright
 Sophie
Wright is an up and coming British chef with an increasing
number of TV appearances. She enjoyed success as a young
chef, collecting several awards and competing in several
notable competitions, including an 8 week cooking trip
around New Zealand and becoming the highest achiever
of the Craft Guild Of Chef Graduate Awards.
Sophie left Westminster KIngsway college at the age
of 19 after 3 years with the titles of "highest
achieving competition chef" and "Highest
achieving female".
At the age of 20, she was one of Britain's youngest
Head chefs at a prestigious London restaurant.
Her TV appearances include a regular slot on ITV's
Daily Cooks!, UKTV's Market Kitchen and the popular
BBC show Food Poker. She graduated from Westminster
Kingsway College, and won 8 gold’s in national
competitions during her three years of study.
Sophie now has her first cook book for sale "Easy
Peasy" and is currently working on the second along
with lots of other exciting projects.
Sophie recently returned from Erfurt Germany with the
Culinary Academy team representing Britain where she
returned with a silver medal.
Sophie has won over 20 national and internation medals
for cookery and was nominated for Competition chef of
the year at the Craft Guild of Chef Awards in 2007.
Sophie is teaming up with Electrolux to road show Brittan’s
Catering Colleges to promote the cooking industry to
young chefs.
FRENCH GOAT'S CHEESE, ROASTED BABY BEETROOT AND
PARSNIP SALAD RECIPE
 Ingredients
4 small French goat's cheese disks
2 large parsnips
8 baby beetroots
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 sprigs thyme
2 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt and pepper
200g salad leaves (red chard, rocket, mâche,
frisée
Dressing:
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
Juice ½ lemon
1 tbsp chervil
1 tsp runny honey
3 tbsp hazelnut oil
How
to make
- Pre-heat
oven to 200°C.
- Remove
the stalks from the baby beetroots and drop in a pan
of simmering water and boil for 15 minutes until tender.
Once cooked, cut the beetroots in half. Drain them
well.
- Peel
the parsnips and cut into eighths from base to tip.
Remove any of the tough core from the centre of the
parsnip.
- Lay
them on a baking tray with the cooked and halved baby
beetroots and coat in the maple syrup, olive oil and
the thyme leaves which should be picked from the stalk.
Season with sea salt and black pepper.
- Place
in to the pre-heated oven and cook for 20 minutes
until they start to turn crispy around the edges.
- While
the vegetables are cooking, make the dressing by combining
the Dijon mustard, sherry vinegar, honey and lemon
juice. Using a mini whisk, slowly pour in the hazelnut
oil until a smooth, thick dressing has been made.
Season with salt and pepper and add in the fresh chervil.
- Now,
place the goat's cheese disks onto a separate baking
tray and place into the hot oven for 8 to 10 minutes
to allow the middle of the cheese to melt.
- Now,
mix the chosen salad leaves with the roasted parsnips
and beetroots. Dress lightly before piling the salad
on to 4 separate plates and then placing the hot cheese
next to the salad.
- Drizzle
with a little of the left-over dressing.
Serves 4
LINGUINI WITH FRENCH GOAT'S CHEESE, CHERRY TOMATOES,
BASIL AND GARLIC RECIPE
 Ingredients
250g crumbled French goat's cheese from a pyramid
or disk
200mls extra virgin olive oil
8 cloves peeled garlic, thinly sliced
500g cherry tomatoes cut in half
1 bunch picked basil
1 lemon
Salt and pepper
1 packet linguini pasta
How
to make
- Put
a large pan of salted water on the stove to cook the
pasta.
- Once
the water has started to boil, drop in all the linguini
and cook as per packet instructions.
- Put
all the olive oil in a saucepan along with the thinly
sliced garlic. Fry over a low heat, stirring occasionally
until the garlic starts to go slightly golden.
- Add
in the sliced tomatoes and allow them to wilt in the
oil, the skins will start to shrivel and the juices
will start to form a sauce.
- Add
in the goat's cheese along with a squeeze of lemon
juice, black pepper and a pinch of salt.
- Drain
the pasta once it is cooked to al dente and add to
the sauce.
- Now
add in all the basil and combine well.
Serves 6
FRENCH GOAT'S CHEESE, GRILLED NECTARINES AND PARMA
HAM SALAD RECIPE
Ingredients
200g French goat's cheese pyramid
4 whole nectarines, ripe
8 slices Parma ham
100g pine nuts
2 red endives
50g broad beans, peeled
½ bunch fresh basil
For the dressing:
2 tbsp runny honey
Zest 1 orange
Juice 1 lemon
100mls olive oil
1 tsp whole grain mustard
Salt and pepper
How
to make
- Half
and quarter the nectarines and remove the stone.
- Pre-heat
a griddle plate or barbecue until it's really hot.
Rub the quarters with a little olive oil and lay them
on the grill until bar marks start to appear. Once
this has happened, turn them over and allow to cook
on the other side.
- While
they are cooking, make the dressing for the salad
by mixing the mustard, orange zest and honey together
with a pinch of salt and black pepper.
- Slow
whisk in the olive oil to make a thick dressing.
- Toast
the pine nuts in a dry, hot frying pan until they
are golden.
- Remove
the core from the endive and remove the leaves.
- Now,
assemble the endive into a bowl and toss with half
of the dressing.
- Scatter
with the warm grilled nectarines, slices of torn Parma
ham, fresh broad beans and crumble on the goat's cheese.
- Pour
the toasted pine nuts into the remaining dressing
and pour over the salad.
- To
finish, tear off a few basil leaves and serve immediately.
Serves 4
GRILLED FRENCH GOAT'S CHEESE AND WALNUT PESTO CIABATTA
RECIPE
Ingredients
75g French goat's cheese from a log
1 ciabatta roll
1 handful rocket
1 courgette
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 lemon
For the pesto:
50g walnuts
1 small bunch basil leaves only
1 small bunch flat leaf parsley
50g grated parmesan
75ml extra virgin olive oil
Juice and zest 1 lemon
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
Salt and pepper
How
to make
- Start
your sandwich by first making the pesto. This can
be done up to a week in advance.
Take the parsley and basil leaves and place in a food
processor along with the chopped garlic, walnuts,
parmesan, olive oil and lemon zest.
- Blitz
to a chunky paste, before adding the lemon juice,
salt and pepper.
- Make
sure you taste it for seasoning. You may need a squeeze
more lemon.
- Heat
up a griddle pan to the highest setting.
- Slice
the courgette very thinly. I prefer to do this using
a swivel-head peeler so you get very thin ribbons
but a knife will do the job.
- Coat
them in olive oil, season with salt and pepper and
lay them on the hot griddle pan. Leave them to cook
until bar lines start to appear, turn them over, add
a squeeze of lemon juice and leave to cook on the
other side for about the same length of time.
- While
the courgettes are cooking, cut the ciabatta in half,
drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a little
sea salt.
- Lay
the bread cut side down onto the griddle pan and allow
to char for a few minutes.
- Spread
both sides of the warmed bread with the walnut pesto.
- Once
the courgettes are cooked, lay them on to the pesto-covered
ciabatta and crumble over plenty of goat's cheese,
drizzle with yet more olive oil and place under a
hot grill until the cheese starts to melt and bubble.
- Once
cooked, lay on plenty of rocket, place the two halves
of the sandwich together and eat straight away.
Makes 1 sandwich
For more delicious goat’s
cheese recipe ideas visit
www.frenchgoatscheese.com
Published
06 April 2009
Email
Hub-UK : info@hub-uk.com
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