Chioggia Beet & Spinach Salad - Fair Food Farmstand

Shopping in the new & improved Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal Market Saturday I came across these Chioggia beets. I picked up some local organic curly spinach for a winter salad.

After roasting them at 350 for 30 minutes in a tightly covered pan with some water, we sliced them up into quarters and had a pleasant surprise. The Chioggia is also known and the Candystripe or Bulls Eye beet, shown here.

We also put some walnuts in the oven to roast while the beets were doing their thing - a perfect bit of crunch to go with the salad.

We had some standard chevre, which I formed into cherry-sized balls and rolled in smoked paprika. I placed them in a microwave for about 30-40 seconds to just loosen up a bit before placing them atop the salad.

The spinach was simply dressed in a sherry vinaigrette, while the beets were left naked so that we could appreciate their sweet, earth chew - why mess with perfection. The sweet beets, tangy dressing, smoky heat of the paprika and the warm, cheesy goat cheese crumbles ended up being a balanced winter salad...all the better that many of the ingredients were locally sourced thanks to Fair Food Farmstand.

Goat Cheese at Seal Cove Farm

We took a little mini-trip to Maine and stayed with friends just outside Bar Harbor. Down the road from the house was the Seal Cove Farm, located on a road called Milky Way.

The farm has a small shop where you can drop in and sample from several of their fresh chevre and aged cheeses. The chevre is prepared both naked or herb encrusted - the dill being one of my favorites. They also sell ash-covered goat cheese pyramids, as well as two different varieties of blended milk cheeses.

Although Elizabeth was eyeing the colossal ash-coated pyramids, we ended up taking home two of the more unusual varieties. Pearl was a goat-cow blend that resembled brie or Bucheron, a rinded cheese with a creamy center. One of the cheese-makers explained that a high-end cheese shop in New York City would buy the cup-cake shaped cheeses and wrap them in sumac leaves to mature in their cellar before re-selling them.

The second purchase was one of the Tommes, a firm disc of aged goat & cow cheese that was steeped in olive oil laced with juniper and pink peppercorns. There were a few blooms on the Tommes that lent a soft blue-cheese tickle that quickly mellowed.

Located just off Route 3, it's an easy drive for anybody visiting Bar Harbor.

Fresh Peach, Thyme & Goat Cheese Pizza

We were visiting my family last weekend and my dad happened to bring up a crate of fresh peaches from South Carolina. We grabbed a dozen to take back to Philly. These guys were perfectly ripened - during the car ride we kept smelling those fresh peaches waft from the back seat.



After the success of the last seasonal fruit pizza, Strawberry, Cashew & Goat Cheese Pizza, we were itching to do something with these peaches that involved grilling the delicious ripe & juicy flesh.

A quick Google popped up this recipe for Grilled Peach Pizza, but the pizza was actually thrown on the grill whole as opposed to grilling the peaches...we were after that charred peach flavor, so I kinda made this up as I went along.



Trader Joe's always has a good deal on goat cheese logs, so used some of that, along with some thyme from the garden. Normally I would make a dough, but lately I've been using lavash brushed in olive oil for a good thin crust.

With the crust brushed in olive oil & sprinkled with thmye & goat cheese crumbles, it goes into a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes to firm up.



Meanwhile the thinly sliced peaches go onto a grooved grill pan to get marked and get a little softened up. These peaches were so ripe that I had to be gentle with these to keep them from tearing apart.



The end result was a simple flatbread pizza spiked with tart goat cheese with rich, gooey slices of grilled peach. The grill brings out the meaty-character of peach flesh while removing the syrupy sweetness. The crispy thin crust was a great counter to the peaches...I couldn't see this working too well with a softer crust.

Strawberry, Cashew & Goat Cheese Pizza

Everywhere you look you see clamshells of strawberries popping up in the supermarkets. We were greeted with a wall of 2.99 per 2lb pack when we entered into Whole Foods. Without thinking, we grabbed a pack and rushed home to celebrate the first strawberries of the season.

Instead of the usual shortcake, we decide to try out a recipe we saw for Strawberry, Pistachio & Goat Cheese pizza. Hop over here if you want the details on this one.



The directions called for a pre-made pizza dough like you see in the refrigerated case, but I went ahead and kneaded up my own...I substituted about 1/4 of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour to give the dough a more refreshing, graham-crackery feeling that you might expect with a dessert-gone-savory pizza.



Bake off your dough in the oven following whatever directions you typically use, then, while it's still hot, dollop on your goat cheese...you could probably substitute a ricotta for a fresher flavor or light cream cheese here if you're watching your weight.

I brushed this dough in olive oil as well to really add some character and avoid dryness, like a white pizza.



Next, crush your nuts...we couldn't locate unsalted roasted pistachio so went with cashews.

Slice your strawberries up, mix in with your greens and drizzle with olive oil...maybe a splash of lemon juice.

Also, shave some Parmesan cheese into small strips.

You're ready to build your pizza!



The strawberry salad is sprinkled liberally about the pie...avoid adding too much to the center so you don't get a sloppy serving with topping strewn about. Here's the final result...a bit heftier than the dainty cousin pictured in the original recipe...I blame the abundance of berries on this overloading.

Next, finish with a few tosses of crushed cashews and the cheese shavings. The strawberries mimic the role of fresh-cut tomatoes while the salad, cheese and toppings complete the salad/pizza effect.

Next thoughts on modifying the toppings include adding oven-crisped prosciutto.