Roasted carrots with goat cheese, chives and lime #186

Here in Sweden it is a great season for carrots, they are cheap, tasty and beautiful and come in all shapes and colors, at least if you visit a good vegetable shop. I really like to serve vegetables almost on their own and let they play the main part of a dish. That approach might not work so well if you are serving a main dish but for a starter or in this case tapas it´s absolutely perfect.

I also felt while making this dish that I´ve probably been making something similar before, so I checked and for a trip down memory lane you can check out my previous recipe with roasted carrots, then served with Greek feta cheese instead.

Roasted carrots with goat cheese, chives and lime

carrots, any size, color or shape you like

butter

lime

soft goat cheese

chives

olive oil

salt, pepper

What to do

Trim and rinse the carrots, if the skin is thick then peel them as well, fry in a pan in a combination of butter and olive oil on medium heat until they are golden and almost cooked through. Check using a small knife while they are cooking so they don´t get to soft, adjust the heat if necessary. When done season with salt and pepper. 

Cut a lime into wedges and add to the pan, roast the lime with the flesh side down until it´s browned, almost burnt. Remove from the pan. Slice the chives.

Plating

Spread a spoonful of goat cheese on the bottom of each plate, add the carrots on top and squeeze a wedge of lime on the carrots, leave each wedge on the plate. Sprinkle the chives on top with a bit of salt, pepper and a few drops of olive oil, serve.

Lamb fillet with herbs, lemon & goat cheese #142

Lamb fillet is a great meat and is perfect in size for serving small, if you can´t get your hands on some fillet you can change it for a bigger piece, also the recipe goes great with beef as well.

Lamb fillet with herbs, lemon & goat cheese

lamb fillet

parsley, chives, rosemary

lemon

garlic

goat cheese (chèvre)

chili

olive oil

butter

salt, pepper

Chop chili's, lemon peel, garlic and herbs into a rough paste. Season the lamb with salt and pepper and fry in butter until golden and medium rare, this goes really quickly with such a small piece of meat so be careful not to overcook it. Once done roll the meat in the herb mixture and put it back in the pan for a few seconds. This will help the herbs stuck better to the meat. Then roll it in the herbs one more time. Leave to rest, meanwhile put the goat cheese on the plate and add a little bit of olive oil. Cut the lamb into bite sized pieces and plate. Serve warm, good luck.

Parma ham with balsamic vinegar glazed plums & goat cheese #115

This is a great and unusual way to use plums, try to get firm and red ones because the won´t get to soft when heated with the vinegar. The combination between sweet and sour plums the salty ham and creamy cheese is a great one that you can apply to other dishes like salads or bruschettas. 

It also works well as a side to grilled meats, if you think it would get to heavy on the meat you can exclude the Parma ham.

Parma ham with balsamic vinegar glazed plums & goat cheese

Parma ham

balsamic vinegar

fresh plums

goat cheese

parsley

olive oil

sugar

Cut the plums in half and remove the pit. In a pan add a little bit of sugar and let it melt, add the plums flesh side down and let cook for a few seconds. Add some balsamic vinegar and bring it to a boil, add a splash of water in case it gets to dry.

On a plate combine the Parma ham with the plums and the vinegar from the pan with crumbles of the goat cheese. Add a few leafs of parsley.

Strawberries with balsamic vinegar & goat cheese #90

This is a great way to enjoy both goat cheese and strawberries, the acidity from the vinegar make the taste complete. Use sweet fully ripened strawberries, but if they are not sweet enough you can ad just a touch of honey or sugar to the vinegar.

Strawberries with balsamic vinegar & goat cheese

fresh strawberries
balsamic vinegar
goat cheese, chèvre
black pepper

Cut the strawberries in half och quarters, add some balsamic vinegar and carefully combine. Let the strawberries marinate for half an hour. Cut the cheese in small bite size pieces. Add a piece of strawberry for each piece of cheese, add some freshly ground black pepper, serve.

Chèvre cream with marinated peaches #86

A simple way to serve chèvre cheese make sure you only do this recipe when the peaches are in season, you can however easily replace them with other fruits like marinated strawberries for example.

Chèvre cream with marinated peaches

chèvre cheese
milk
peaches
sugar
black pepper
olive oil
salt

If you bought chèvre with the skin on then peel it with a knife and break the cheese in smaller pieces, add a little bit of milk and at the same time blend the cheese using a hand held blender. Keep adding milk and blending until the cheese is completely smooth and is similar to a mousse.

Dice the peaches and combine with a little bit of sugar, salt and black pepper. Let marinate for half an hour. Put a spoonful of chèvre mousse on a plate and add some of the marinated peaches and a few drops of olive oil.

Chèvre chaud on toast with honey # 49

Chèvre chaud on toast with honey

Fresh Chèvre (goat cheese)
toast bread
liquid honey
red vine vinegar
parsley
butter

Slice the chèvre cheese in slices, cut circles of the bread in a slightly bigger size than the cheese. Combine honey, vinegar and chopped parsley.

Fry the slices of bread in a pan with butter until golden. Put a slice of cheese on each toast and bake in the oven on high heat until golden. Pour the honey/vinegar mix on top before serving.