Showing posts with label thyme. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thyme. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Tomato, Fresh Fig and Blue Cheese Salad

So for the past days we've been busy harvesting tons of balcony tomatoes and figuring out what to do with them. Every day there are just more and more of them.

Ok, the classics Greek or Caprese salad are great, but can get a little boring after a while.
So I looked through my cook books and searched the internet for a delicious alternative.

One of my favourite sources for food related news and recipes certainly is the New York Times Dining&Wine section. And that's where I found this Tomato, Fresh Fig and Blue Cheese Salad.

We've been eating this salad for the last couple of days. It is SOOOO GOOD!
Really easy to prepare and all those different ingredients are in perfect balance with each other. 
The figs add a subtle sweetness that balances the stronger flavor of the blue cheese. 
Together with ripe sweet but slightly acidic tomatoes, thyme, roasted pine nuts and a vinaigrette of olive oil, sea salt and balsamico, it's heavenly!

Seriously, try it yourself. 
You'll be surpirsed how good it is and how quick and easy it is prepared!


Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons pine nuts
  • 1 large or 2 small ripe tomatoes, about 8 ounces, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 pound fresh figs, cut into quarters
  • 1 ounce crumbled blue cheese, like Fourme d’Ambert, more to taste
  • 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
  • Black pepper.


Preparation

1.       In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar and salt. Whisk in oil. 

2.       In a small skillet over medium-low heat, toast pine nuts, shaking the pan occasionally, until light golden, about 2 minutes.

3.       Spread tomato slices on a large plate. Scatter fig quarters and pine nuts over tomatoes. Sprinkle with cheese and thyme, drizzle with dressing and finish with pepper.


 Bon appetit!



Thursday, March 10, 2011

Pear & goat cheese tarte with smoked bacon and mustard dressing

In the latest issue of German food magazine Essen&Trinken I found this nice tarte:

















I made this recipe using ready-made pastry that you can buy frozen in every grocery store.
You defrost two sheets of pastry, put them on top of each other and roll them out on a floured working surface using a rolling pin.
The pastry needs to be bigger than the tarte pan.
Place the rolled out pastry in the tarte pan and slightly press the pastry to the border of the pan.
Top it with one thin sliced pear, smoked bacon cubes(40-80g) and goat cheese (100-150g).
In the recipe they recommend using cream cheese, but I decided to take camembert instead.
The dressing is made out of:

2 tbsp of maple syrup
2tbsp of lemon juice
1tbsp of extra hot mustard (eg. Dijon)
1tbsp of whole seed mustard (eg. Dijon)
1tbsp of thyme (fresh if possible)
salt and pepper

You mix all these ingrediences together and sprinkle most of the dressing over the tarte.
Preheat the oven to about 200-220°C and bake the tarte for about 20-25 minutes until the cheese is melted.

Serve with the rest of the dressing.

PS:
  • If you are not a fan of goat cheese just replace it with cow milk based cheese instead.
  • Be careful with the dressing. It is quite intense! You can use less mustard or use a milder kind.
  • next time I will fry the bacon before adding it to the tarte for more smoky flavor ...