Spinach salad with blueberries and goat cheese
I don’t quite remember where I first tasted pan-seared goat cheese, but it’s truly one of life’s most wonderful things. The key is to make sure that it’s crusted with something, to avoid the cheese melting onto your pan; I chose panko crumbs, but I’ve also seen it rolled in crushed almonds. The vinaigrette for this is especially simple and lovely; you can make as much of this recipe as you want and just keep it around for salads. This recipe will make two meal-sized salads.
Start with the vinaigrette:
Mix the juice of 1 Meyer Lemon (they’re smaller, and sweeter than regular lemons, I find) with about a tablespoon of Dijon mustard. Add salt and pepper to taste, along with about 1 tbsp fresh basil. Whisk this together with about 3-4 tablespoons of good olive oil (I had some that I had infused the other day with Meyer lemon peel, so this is what I used).
Toss the vinaigrette with about 2 cups of baby spinach leaves, and split between two dinner plates.
Top each salad with:
- 1/4 cup blueberries
- 5-6 candied walnuts (or praline pecans)
- 1 steamed, sliced beet (or 2 steamed baby beets, sliced)
To make the pan-seared goat cheese, cut 6 slices about 1/4″ thick from a log of good goat cheese (about 1″ diameter). Beat one egg with a bit of water, and get ready about a cup of panko breadcrumbs. Dip the cheese in the egg, and then in the breadcrumbs, and sauté in about 1 tbsp of olive oil until both sides are nice and golden-brown. Dish out three of the goat cheese bits on each salad, and dig in! SO yummy.