April 9th - Herbed Goat Cheese with Roasted Chiles and Olive Oil

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRIAN!
It's Brian's birthday!  Yippee!!  So, in honor of this great day, I'm not going to blog very much so we can go and celebrate the day. 

THE RECIPE

Ingredients:
Chiles: $2.10
Garlic: had
Goat Cheese: $3.99
Cilantro: $0.69
Oregano: had
Olive oil: had
Bread: $1.99

Total: $8.77

I didn't use Anaheim chiles (I couldn't find them).  So instead, I used poblanos.    Also, I didn't use fresh oregano (I used dried). 

When I roasted the peppers, I just wrapped them in foil (I didn't use the paper bag technique) and let them steam.  It worked fine.  I was able to peel them no problem.  When you're peeling the peppers, make sure that you don't rinse the peppers under running water (as you might be tempted to do).  It gets rid of that roasted pepper taste and makes the peppers just "meh".  Instead, try to wipe off the outside with a paper towel (I learned this in my restaurant days). 

I really like blanching garlic.  It's a great way to get a mellower garlic flavor into things.  I often will blanch garlic and put it into salad dressings or even on vegetables such as green beans or in mashed potatoes.  Great technique to remember!

THE RESULTS
FAST:  Umm...not so much.  The roasting of the peppers will take about 15 to 20 minutes by itself.  In the meantime, you can blanch the garlic and chop the cilantro.  Then, all the flavors have to sit for an hour before you can serve it.  So you're looking at about an hour and a half before this is done and ready to eat. 

EASY:  Umm...not so much.  The roasting of the peppers can be a little difficult (especially if you haven't done it before.)  The blanching of the garlic is pretty easy (just drop in boiling water).  The rest is just chop and mix.

FRESH:  Yes.  Absolutely.  The cilantro and oregano give the goat cheese a nice flavor.  The roasted peppers and blanched garlic also help pep up the recipe. 

OVERALL:  I really like this recipe, although its a little hard to serve.  Next time, I will chop up the peppers smaller (the strips are kind of awkward) and sprinkle them over the cheese.  Also, I think I would form the cheese into a ball or a more solid structure.  The crumbliness is messy when you try to pick it up with a spreading knife.  I can see that being a hassel when serving this to company.   Otherwise the flavors are great!

Tomorrow is an ice cream dessert.  Yummy!!!  See ya then.