Warm Goat Cheese, Walnut and Honey Toasts
Posted by Emma Barker on Friday, January 29, 2010
Under: Sides
Sometimes in winter quarter I feel like I've run into a patch of the doldrums. All the papers I turn in start to blend together, until I might as well just be writing the same paper over and over again. Any urge to get out of bed in the morning and actually do something is immediately quashed by the sight of frost riming my windowpane. At times like this, the thought that keeps popping into my mind is, "I'd rather be in Paris right now". And of course, this is not particularly helpful since I can't go to Paris at the moment.
What I can do is try to recreate some of the food I ate while I was there. It was in a fairly unremarkable-looking cafe called Le Cercle on Boulevard St. Michel that I came across a little menu item called Chevre Chaud Au Miel (translation: Hot Goat and Honey) that just kind of blew my mind. Little rounds of goat cheese had been slapped onto slices of sourdough bread, brushed with honey, topped with walnuts, and toasted into a blissful symbiosis of sweet, tangy, and nutty. The simple green salad underneath wasn't particularly special, but it provided a nice, fresh counterpoint to the toasts.
I won't pretend that American goat cheese is anything close to French goat cheese in terms of flavor, but even so, these little toasts brought back memories of Paris and warm weather. What makes this even better is the fact that it's incredibly easy to make, and only takes about 20 minutes of valuable paper-writing time.
Ingredients:
*serves 1-2
2 oz goat cheese, cut or shaped into little rounds about 1 inch in diameter
about 3 inches of sourdough bread, sliced into pieces about 1/2 inch wide
2 tbsp honey
6 walnut halves
salad greens for serving
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. Spread out the slices of bread on a cookie sheet. Place one slice or round of goat cheese on each slice of sourdough. Put a few drops of honey on top of each goat cheese round, and spread it gently with a butter knife. Put a walnut half on top of the goat cheese and honey. Put another drop of honey on top of each walnut. Toast for about 5 minutes at 450 degrees until the cheese has softened and the bread is toasted. Serve over green salad.
What I can do is try to recreate some of the food I ate while I was there. It was in a fairly unremarkable-looking cafe called Le Cercle on Boulevard St. Michel that I came across a little menu item called Chevre Chaud Au Miel (translation: Hot Goat and Honey) that just kind of blew my mind. Little rounds of goat cheese had been slapped onto slices of sourdough bread, brushed with honey, topped with walnuts, and toasted into a blissful symbiosis of sweet, tangy, and nutty. The simple green salad underneath wasn't particularly special, but it provided a nice, fresh counterpoint to the toasts.
I won't pretend that American goat cheese is anything close to French goat cheese in terms of flavor, but even so, these little toasts brought back memories of Paris and warm weather. What makes this even better is the fact that it's incredibly easy to make, and only takes about 20 minutes of valuable paper-writing time.
Ingredients:
*serves 1-2
2 oz goat cheese, cut or shaped into little rounds about 1 inch in diameter
about 3 inches of sourdough bread, sliced into pieces about 1/2 inch wide
2 tbsp honey
6 walnut halves
salad greens for serving
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. Spread out the slices of bread on a cookie sheet. Place one slice or round of goat cheese on each slice of sourdough. Put a few drops of honey on top of each goat cheese round, and spread it gently with a butter knife. Put a walnut half on top of the goat cheese and honey. Put another drop of honey on top of each walnut. Toast for about 5 minutes at 450 degrees until the cheese has softened and the bread is toasted. Serve over green salad.
In : Sides