tag: goat cheese

And the phyllo party continues chez moi. Part of my faceplant into fall is my obsession with orange vegetables: sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and butternut squash.

I found fresh sage at my greengrocer’s last week. I’d never worked with sage before — it’s not an herb that was easily found in LA markets, and I didn’t plant any in my herb box here. Besides, the slight fuzziness of the leaves freaked me out a little bit. But I sniffed the bunch of leaves and was immediately transported to the land of nutty warm fall dishes and… breakfast sausage? Well, sage is the main herb in American breakfast sausage, so no wonder.

Butternut squash is aptly named. With the creaminess of butter and a subtle earthiness along with a sweetness that’s magnified when the squash is roasted, it’s perfect paired with a tangy goat cheese. With bits of walnuts for crunch, these little phyllo pockets were filling and well-balanced snack.

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Posted in: appetizers, cooking, snacks | Tags: autumn, butternut squash, chevre, fall, goat cheese, phyllo, phyllo dough, sage, snack, spanakopita, squash, walnut | 4 COMMENTS

Can we talk about wheat berries for a second?

I have no idea why no one eats them. With all the hullabaloo about quinoa and farro and other good-for-you grains going around, it seems only natural to start introducing other whole grains that aren’t getting as much air time.

So, meet the humble wheat berry. A wheat berry is not a berry at all, but a whole wheat kernel — the stuff that’s milled to get whole wheat flour. It’s eaten a lot more here in France (as a side dish, similar to rice) than in the States. Because the whole kernel is left intact, its nutrients come with it too: protein, fiber, iron, and vitamin E. It’s got a lovely tender, chewy texture and its flavor is nutty and similar to other whole grains like brown rice.

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Posted in: cooking, salads, snacks | Tags: appetizer, dried cranberries, fall, figs, food, goat cheese, grain salad, grain salads, salad, vegetarian, vinaigrette, wheat berries, wheat berry | 7 COMMENTS

It feels like it’s all peaches, all the time on the food blogs right now. With good reason: peaches are going crazy this summer. Every single one I’ve brought home has been ripe and sweet, with not a dud among them.

We all know that the best way to eat a peach is out-of-hand, over the sink with juice dripping down your chin. But the aroma and flavor of the fruit pair well with so many things — especially in the savory, salty arena — it would be a shame not to experiment.

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Posted in: appetizers, cooking, party food, snacks | Tags: appetizer, balsamic, basil, bruschetta, chevre, crostini, goat cheese, ham, peach crostini, prosciutto, snack | 8 COMMENTS