Zucchini Goat Cheese Recipe

This weekend, I was inspired by the seafood I prepared for myself and created fish-like "scales" using thinly sliced zucchini so my husband Lulu, who is a vegetarian, could enjoy a similarly-themed meal.

First, I steamed thinly sliced and shredded zucchini. Then I cooked finely chopped morel mushrooms with garlic. Shredded zucchini, preserved lemons and the mushrooms became the base of the flavoring for the goat cheese filling. I reshaped a log of goat cheese mixture and dressed it with the zucchini slices. I added a little glamour to the dish with the exquisite white truffle oil we received from our friend Casey at Pastamoré. How luxurious does this sound?  

I preserved Meyer lemons in several jars a few months ago and it's now time to enjoy every bit of them. This is the very first time of the season I'm using them. You could use them to flavor pasta, cold soup, sauces, salad dressing, dips, stews and many more dishes. Stay tuned for more recipes with preserved lemons.

Radish and Goat Cheese Napoleon Recipe

This radish and goat cheese napoleon recipe was inspired by an elegant beet appetizer I had several years ago at Spago, Wolfgang Puck's restaurant. Colorful layers of sliced, pickled Cherry Belle radishes, candied walnuts, goat cheese spread and rounds of whole grain noor thin bread give the dish its visual appeal. The pungency from the radishes offsets the velvety smoothness from the goat cheese. Sprinkled with candied walnuts, arugula and a few sprouted radish shoots as garnish, a larger portion of this light salad could be served as a one-dish meal. I finished the salad with a flavor-matching vinaigrette, a scrumptious sesame and candied walnut salad dressing.

The bread used in this dish is a new product from my friends over at California Lavash. It’s made with whole grains and is studded with black and white sesame seeds. It’s a great choice if you want to make a healthy dish, but I obviously didn’t do that today! I’ll be posting a couple more recipes using the bread later this week, and if you’d like to try them out, you can enter this week’s giveaway. Good luck!

Creme de Betterave (Cold Beet Soup Recipe)

We just picked our last large batch of beets from the garden. I steamed the candy striped beets, red beets and golden beets and blended them with a mixture of bean and rice porridge (I used mung beans). I've started introducing new foods to my 9-month old baby Aria, and the natural sweetness from the beets works well for infants.

It's pretty nutritious and filling for adults too, so I served the same dish for the family dinner but with a twist. I added pistachio paste for extra flavor and coarsely crushed pistachios for crunch. And for the dinner presentation, I topped the thick soup with goat cheese-infused cream. Who said "baby" food can't be delicious?

There are still a few more days to enter the giveaway and maybe win a Teflon BBQ grill pan. All you need to do is enter your email address. I'll pick a winner on Monday, August 13^th at 12AM. It's very easy to participate. Also make sure you're a fan of PhamFatale Facebook fan page and Teflon, or follow @phamfatalecom and @TeflonBrand and tweet about this giveaway. To make it easy, you can just copy and paste this tweet if you’d like: "The #giveaway is live! Enter to #win a BBQ grill pan from @phamfatalecom! What's your favorite meal to #grill?: http://bit.ly/MvWiVG" Good luck everyone!

Portobello Mushroom Israeli Couscous with Truffle Goat Cheese

Potatoes, rice or pasta typically serve as the starch in our daily meals, but when it's time for a change I turn to Israeli couscous. Like all starches, it's a versatile foundation upon which you can build any combination of flavors.

In this recipe, I cooked Israeli couscous with Portobello mushrooms, basil tomato sauce, arugula and truffle-flavored goat cheese. It can be served as a side dish, or as a main course for vegetarians. Either way, its looks will catch your eye and the taste won't disappoint. 

Lamb and Goat Cheese Appetizer Recipe (+Giveaway)

It makes me sad that lamb is so under-utilized and under-appreciated. I love lamb! Whenever I want to introduce lamb to someone who may have had a bad experience, I give it to them in appetizer form. Getting a large chunk of a meat you don't know or haven't enjoyed in the past can be intimidating. Bite size appetizers are much more inviting in that if after a bite you don't like it, you can stop right there without offending anyone.

I bought a lamb tenderloin to create appetizers with the tender meat. I would usually stack cold meat on toasted brioche, but I needed to add something studier to hold the little bites together. I used mini wafer crisps and topped them with hash-brown style sweet potatoes. I created many layers of flavors so the elements would complement each other. I made a mint goat milk yogurt sauce to pair with the lamb and finished the appetizer with two different kinds of Cypress Goat Cheese chevre to repeat the flavor.



Today our friend Jason from Cypress Grove Chevre is offering the Flashback Family Gift Pack (which I used for this recipe) as part of our 25 Days of Giveaways. The giveaway includes five amazing flavored goat cheeses. Each flavor has a groovy name: Ms.Natural (plain), Sgt.Pepper (exotic spices & pepper threads), Purple Haze (lavender), PsycheDillic (dill) and Herbs de Humboldt (Herbes de Provence). I like them all and I've told you Cypress Grove Chevre is really dear to my heart (find out why). As an added bonus, it also includes John Lennon-style tinted glasses to help your chevre lovers properly mellow out. That's 24 ounces of delicious chevre, a $75 value! Enter now.

Make sure you're a fan of PhamFatale Facebook fan page and Cypress Grove Chevre, or follow @Phamfatalecom and tweet about this giveaway. To make it easy, you can just copy and paste this tweet if you’d like: "Flashback Goat Cheese Family Gift Pack $75 value #Giveaway from @Phamfatalecom and @CypressGrovers: http://bit.ly/sp4V7y".