Fall Inspired Turkey Sandwich

My recent trip to North Carolina had me thinking about curried goat cheese for a long time.  Why had I not had that flavor combination before?  It seems so obvious right?  Then an idea hit me, the perfect Fall sandwich that could also make use of any Thanksgiving left over turkey! 

Don’t get me wrong, I love a leftover thanksgiving sandwich as much as the next girl. Stuffing, cranberry sauce, turkey, gravy, and mashed potatoes all piled on a roll…  But there are only so many days that you can eat that without wanting something a tad bit lighter, or before the button of your jeans pops off and nearly takes out your eye. This sandwich is delicious and on the lighter side.  Best of all it’s easy, cause we’re all going to be tired after cooking up our Thanksgiving feasts!   

Curried Goat Cheese Turkey Sandwich

2 slices of multi grain bread
1.5 oz. soft goat cheese
Curry powder
1/2 honeycrisp apple, cut into thin slices
2 oz. turkey, sliced

1.  In a small bowl combine goat cheese and curry powder.  *Add a few dashes of curry powder and add more to taste.* 

2.  Spread curry goat cheese on one piece of the multi grain bread, layer thin slices of honeycrisp apple and turkey. 

Optional:  Pop the sandwich into toaster sandwich to let the flavors meld. 

I’ve kinda been eating this sandwich non stop, especially since honeycrisps are in season right now. 

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving holiday with their friends and family!!  Back in college, the first year that I was not able to go home for Thanksgiving, I forced my friends to each reveal something that they are thankful for.  So in that same tradition, while I feel I have a lot to be thankful for, most of my family is in Hawaii, but I feel so lucky to have such great friends up here in Los Angeles all of who checked to make sure I had plans and invited me into their homes for Thanksgiving.  (Love you guys and miss you mom and dad!) 

Prosciutto Fig and Goat Cheese Pizza

Yikes I have been on the go for the past two weeks, I feel like I haven’t been home to just veg out for ages!  Not that I don’t love going out to dinner with new and old friends, visiting the Magic Castle and hitting up some great concerts- but sometimes a girl just wants to be home with a bottle of beer and sit in front of the TV. 

For those types of nights, this would be perfect!!  You know I love the prosciutto fig combo from these lovely bites of goodness.  And in order to get your last bits of figs in and in honor of the wedding that I am going to this weekend on a Goat Cheese Dairy farm I bring you this easy pizza. 

Congrats to my friends Charlotte and Brock that are getting married and here’s to a weekend full on moonshine, goat cheese and some Southern BBQ!!!  Hoping to fit in a visit to Cracker Barrel and try some other regional goodies.   

Prosciutto Fig and Goat Cheese Pizza

1 pkg pizza dough
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup goat cheese
1/2 onion, caramelized
2 oz. prosciutto, tear into large pieces
6 fresh figs, cut in half
red chili flakes
olive oil

1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Roll out pizza dough to a 12 inch circle and lightly sprinkle the top with olive oil. 

2.  Sprinkle mozzarella cheese, prosciutto pieces, figs, caramelized onions and goat cheese evenly on the crust. 

3.  Place into oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until cheese is melted and crust is golden brown. 

Roasted Peaches with Goat Cheese Mousse

This was the super delicious and amazingly quick dessert that I made at my goat cheese dinner party!  As you may remember we started with a simple salad with strawberries, almonds, avocado and goat cheese.  Then we moved on to our main dish, Bacon Goat Cheese Gnocchi.  Since this “dinner party” was planned only a day before, I kept everything super simple.  This dessert was so good and literally only takes minutes of prep allowing you to spend time with your guests. 

   

Roasted Peaches with Goat Cheese Mousse

3-4 white peaches or white nectarines, quartered
3 Tbsp. light brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ginger
4 oz. fresh goat cheese, room temperature
2-3 Tbsp. half and half (or whipping cream)
Honey
Balsamic Fig reduction, optional
Mint, optional

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Wash and cut fruit.  Mix brown sugar, cinnamon, and ginger in a bowl.

2.  Dip cut pieces of fruit into the brown sugar mixture and place on cookie sheet or in baking pan. *I lined with foil for super easy clean up!!*

3.  Bake for 20 minutes, or until fruit is fork tender and juices start to run out. 

4.  Place soft goat cheese in a bowl and add the half and half to the bowl.  Using a fork, whip the two ingredients until combine.  *Add more half and half if you would like a lighter consistency*

5.  Serve warm fruit with a dollop of goat cheese mousse and drizzle with honey.  Garnish with Balsamic Fig reduction and mint!  *Balsamic Fig reduction sauce is possibly the best thing that I bought myself this month!!*  

Seriously, this dessert is soooo good!  If you are grilling, pop those peaches on the grill!  My dinner guest loved it and literally couldn’t believe that it only took me 5 minutes to prep in the kitchen while they were relaxing.  And, if you have any left overs the roasted fruit was super yummy the next morning on my yogurt! 

Bacon Goat Cheese Gnocchi

One day I found myself with an absurd amount of goat cheese in my fridge.  All of a sudden I had about 5 different types of goat cheese!  Though I loooooove me some goat cheese I kinda had the feeling that I should not attempt to eat all this cheesy goodness alone.  Welcome the goat cheese dinner party!  I invited two of my friends over and we had three courses all with goat cheese as an ingredient. 

This was super fun, it forced me to try to be creative and use goat cheese in new ways.  I’ll share the recipe for two of the courses with you.  The first course was just a simple salad with goat cheese crumbles, strawberries, arugula, sliced almonds, and avocado with a ponzu dressing.  Here is what we had as our main course.  This is an excellent weeknight meal since this dinner probably all came together in about 20 minutes!     

Bacon Goat Cheese Gnocchi

4-6 strips of bacon (depending on thickness)
1 pkg gnocchi (I loved the one from Trader Joes)
1 1/2 cup mini heirloom tomatoes
1/2 cup pasta water
3 oz. fresh soft goat cheese
2 Tbsp. pesto
olive oil
sea salt
pepper

1.  Cut tomatoes in half and season well with salt and pepper.  Drizzle with olive oil and let them sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

2.  Crisp up bacon, cut into small pieces and set aside.  Drain bacon grease from pan and reserve 1 Tbsp. for later. 

3.  Prepare gnocchi as directed on the package (boil in salted water until they float).  Remove 1/2 cup of pasta water from the pot and drain gnocchi.  Add gnocchi to the pan with the bacon grease and slightly brown the gnocchi.  *I wanted to do this since I kinda like the gnocchi with a slight crisp to it*

4.  In a large bowl add pasta water, browned gnocchi, marinated tomatoes, and goat cheese.  Mix well until the goat cheese melts and creates a sauce that coats the gnocchi.  Drizzle pesto and sprinkle bacon bits.

I like to serve this up with some red chili pepper flakes to give it a little bit of heat.  This is just the right amount of creamy and tangy with out being too rich.