Who Cooked It Better? National Goat Cheese Month

First of all, many apologies for slacking on the Who Cooked It Better front. I was off eating in the Holy Land for awhile (much more on that to come), and was then distracted by Olympic foods, and I let our weekly feature fall by the wayside. Well, August is National Goat Cheese Month, as I’m sure you all knew. So what better time to celebrate one of the best ingredients there is?

Unfortunately, goat cheese tends to get an un-versatile rap. Sure, we all know by now that it goes great with fig jam, can be mixed in with pasta, or baked in a tart with onions. But as the most malleable type of cheese, we sometimes forget that goat cheese can do anything! Seriously people, name something I wouldn’t put goat cheese on/in – I challenge you.

So in honor of National Goat Cheese Month, I scoured the Internet for the most creative uses of goat cheese – recipes that really push the boundaries. Now it’s up to you all to pick the best of the best.

The goat cheese salad on the top left is from Chriesi at Almond Corner. Now, I know what you’re thinking: goat cheese in a salad is hardly original. But wait ’til you hear the total mockery AC makes of salad. It’s goat cheese, wrapped in prosciutto, fried, and then served in a salad. Full details and more pictures over at Almond Corner.

Next up is a video recipe from Chris at realmeals.tv, who adopts a similar wrapped-in-pig motif but ditches the green stuff. Chris first covers his goat cheese in bread crumbs that are cut with — be still my heart — pine nuts, then rolls the whole thing up in bacon and deep fries it. He looses a point for calling the dish bacon goat cheese nuggets (nuggets is on my bottom five least appetizing menu words list), but other than that, these babies are pretty close to heaven. Full recipe and video instructions at realmeals.tv.

Plenty of people have discovered the art of stuffing chicken with goat cheese, but I’ve got to hand it to the Beantown Baker for having the guts to stuff it in fish. Her goat cheese stuffed salmon steaks are on the bottom left, and while I never would have thought of this, how could it go wrong? Goat cheese strikes again. Recipe at Beantown Baker.

Lastly, here’s one for you veggie goat cheese lovers. Joe at foodie nyc offers up this fresh and original appetizer. Joe juices some fennel fronds (woooah, wha?!?), then whips it up with lemon juice and extra virgin to create the sauce the goat cheese is wading in. The goat cheese is then topped with fried leeks for an extra onion-y bite. Directions: “Simply slice off a bit of your goat cheese, bath it gently in the fennel juice vinaigrette, and smear it onto a cracker or piece of toasted crostini.” The “simply” part is a lie, but way to go, Joe. Full instructions at foodie nyc.

Your votes, por favor.

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