Turkey Goat Cheese Meatballs

You know how this story starts. I had some turkey and a hankering for goat cheese, so I looked for an easy way to combine them. Hence, meatballs. Turkey goat cheese meatballs. Balls of meat oozing goat cheese.

It's like a mini version of food nirvana for me.

Since I was only cooking for two, I used half a pound of ground turkey meat. And about two ounces of soft herbed chèvre. If I hadn't put it in the meat, I would've spread it all over crackers. This is an arguably healthier option.

This is just about when I discovered lemon pepper, too. I've had it for a while, but have been hesitant to use it. This time I threw caution to the wind. Somehow the lemon pepper, turmeric, coriander, and paprika were perfect together. Quite deliciously perfect.

I also made a very quick cilantro yogurt sauce for them (chop cilantro and add to Greek yogurt with ground ginger, ground coriander and garlic powder). It was a damn good combination overall.

And disappeared far too quickly. Next time, I'll go for the full pound of meat.

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Easy Bake Turkey Goat Cheese Meatballs

by Paulette Fontanez May-15-2012

A simple baked meatball recipe, stuffed with creamy goat cheese goodness.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound ground turkey
• 2 gloves garlic, minced
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 2 ounces soft herbed goat cheese
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon turmeric
• 1/2 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1/2 tablespoon paprika

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Lightly spray with cooking spray.2. Combine all the ingredients until well mixed. Make sure cheese is evenly spread throughout.3. Roll the mixture into golf ball-size balls. Space evenly on the baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes until golden brown. Cheese might ooze out.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 25 mins Yield: 9 meatballs

Quicky Appetizer: Bacon-Wrapped Goat Cheese-Stuffed Dates

It will take you longer to say the name of this appetizer than it will to either make them or eat them all.

I had these recently at a friend's party, and that reminded me of a little snack I'd made at home a few weeks prior. She had stuffed hers with blue cheese, which I usually don't care for (yes, there are some cheeses I don't like), but when paired with salty bacon and sweet dates, it somehow just worked.

And that's another benefit of these delicious little bites: you can stuff them with anything. Don't fancy cheese? I don't understand what that means, but stuff it with mango instead. Don't eat bacon? Wrap these in...ha, funny! Ok, fine I do understand that some people don't eat bacon. Don't wrap them. Dip them in chocolate instead.

Ooh, something new to try...

Don't like dates? Use figs instead. Or jalapeños.

I told you: so many possibilities.

Each pitted date uses one-half of a slice of bacon. Stuff with a small bit of cheese, wrap the bacon around,  and bake on a lined sheet for 15-20 minutes (until bacon reaches the crispiness you desire) at 350 degrees F. 

Let them cool lest you burn your tongue.

It takes longer to say the name than to write the recipe. Enjoy.

Pink & Lavender Turkey Mini-Burgers

I recently became obsessed with lavender. I've always liked the color (it's so pretty) but I didn't really know how it tasted. At one point I was trying to figure out what to do with a decadent wedge of Humboldt Fog goat cheese, and learned that typical French herbs lavender and thyme paired nicely with it.

Them French know a thing or two about food.

Lavender is quite perfume-like. Too much of it and you will feel like you sucked down some Chanel No. 5, which is a very lovely fragrance. (If any fans wants to gift G+F some perfume, nous aimons Coco.) But you don't want to taste it for the rest of the day. Use sparingly.

Another lovely pantry staple is pink peppercorns. These are less pepper and more berries, and also hail from France. I have had them for a while, wondering how and what to use them in. Turns out these pink beads blend nicely with its equally colorfully-hued French friend lavender. I was making on my way to making a pink and purple rainbow of food.

Plus I grow thyme in my little patio garden, so now I just had to figure out what to do with this spice blend and cheese.

Enter ground turkey and King's Hawaiian mini buns. And then you have mini burgers! Not sliders, as Serious Eats explains, but mini burgers. They're as easy to make on the stove as on the grill. And even though we're having some unseasonably warm weather in Los Angeles this winter (in the 70-80 degree range, which is weird even for southern California), I still haven't fired up the grill. Mostly because I gave it to my dad and no longer have one.

Thinking about it, I suppose you could make these into sliders. But I like my onions caramelized and IN the ground meat mixture, not just steaming on top of it.

I made two of these, ate them, and they tasted fine. I let the rest sit in the fridge until the next day, made two more, and they tasted so much better. The flavors were much better combined. So that's the trick, let the mix sit overnight. More yummy bang for your buck.

Don't forget the oozy cheese!

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Pink & Lavender Turkey Mini-Burgers

by Paulette Fontanez 

French lavender and pink peppercorns help turn a normal turkey burger into a gourmet mini burger.

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1/2 cup caramelized onions, choppped
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon dried lavender
• 1/2 teaspoon pink peppercorns
• 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (or 1 teaspoon of fresh thyme)
• dash of salt
• 8 ounces goat cheese
• 8 mini burger buns

Instructions

1. Crush the peppercorns and coriander to a powder (use a spice mill if you have it). 2. Combine the crushed spices with the turkey, onions, cilantro, garlic, olive oil, and salt and mix well. Optional but highly recommended step: let sit, covered, in the fridge overnight.3. Form into 8 mini burgers. Grill on high heat for 3-4 minutes per side.4. Serve on mini buns with a 1-ounce piece of goat cheese (Humboldt Fog is strongly recommended!). Let the cheese melt a bit. Add additional condiments if you feel it necessary.

Details

Prep time: 5 minutes - overnightCook time: 8 minutes +Total time: 13 minutes +Yield: 8 mini burgers

Chopped-Inspired Dinner Party

Chopped is a Food Network show that pits 4 cheftestants against each other and a basket of mystery ingredients. I watch the show to take notes on the different ways the chefs prepare their various ingredients. Some of the baskets confound even the judges (one of whom is Aaron Sanchez, who we partied with on Quatro de Mayo). That's when you know it's good.

So fascinated have I been by the idea of "mystery ingredients" that I decided to host my own dinner party styled after the show. I've finally gotten comfortable enough in the kitchen that I think I can whip up something on the fly. Thankfully my guests didn't make it too hard on me.

Erik, Katie & Adrienne

The instructions to them were simple: each would bring either a protein, fruit/vegetable, and wild card item, and my only restriction would be that the wild card be gluten-free. The Chopped chefs only get 30 minutes to make an entree, but I told them I was giving myself an hour just to be safe. Adrienne arrived first with a bag of cooked baby shrimp. I had expected seafood, so I was relieved. Up next was Katie with herbed goat cheese and a polenta loaf. Finally my brother Erik arrived with oranges.

The goat cheese was camera shy.

My very first reaction to the oranges is not appropriate for young eyes. Suffice to say I panicked for a half-second.

While I loaded them up on wine, cheese, and strawberry jellies, I set to work in the kitchen. Inspiration came from the buns I had anticipated using if ground meat had come through the door (hey, even burgers can be sexy!). I grabbed my favorite kitchen tool (the mini chopper attachment on my stick blender) and set to blending the shrimp, goat cheese and orange zest together. I didn't know what it would taste like, but it sounded like a good idea. My brother wandered in at that point to shoot some video and ask if we were having shrimp shakes. He was slightly disappointed when I said no.

Appetizers

At first I thought I'd make shrimp pâté burgers with the polenta rounds as the bread. Then I thought about doing Napoleons. But something was missing. We had yellow bases topped with orangey-pink goop. It needed greenery. And bacon, because everything is good with bacon. So out of the fridge came the bacon and a bag of spinach. Bacon fried up and then the spinach sautéed nicely in its drippings.

Finally it was time to plate. A diced Roma tomato added the final touch.

I waited cautiously for everyone's reactions. My brother was the first to speak up, saying he thought the orange zest added a really good, interesting flavor. The girls agreed and we all dug in with gusto. Erik went on to eat four Napoleons. So at the very least I know he really liked them.

It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to do it again. Maybe will become the new Saturday Night Test Kitchen! (As I was writing this, I realized that Napoleons are supposed to be stacks of repeated layers, and these weren't exactly that. But that's why artistic license exists, right?)

Polenta & Shrimp Pâté Napoleons
yields approximately 5 servings

1 pound of cooked baby shrimp (250-350 per pound)
3 ounces of fine herb goat cheese
1 tablespoon of orange zest
1 pre-made polenta tube
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
8 pieces of bacon
1 six-ounce bag of baby spinach
1 roma tomato, diced

1. In a food processor, blend together the shrimp, goat cheese and orange zest. Pose for pictures.

2. Cut polenta into 1/4-inch rounds and sauté in the sunflower oil until a slight crust develops on both sides.

2a. Answer questions for the camera man when he wanders in asking about shrimp shakes. Give him more wine.

3. While the polenta is sautéing, cut the bacon in half cross-wise and fry in a separate pan. Remove to a dish lined with paper towels and reserve the pan drippings. Wilt the spinach in the drippings. Sauté just until the leaves wilt and turn slightly dark.

4. To serve, place the polenta in the center of the dish. Top it with the paté, spinach, a slice of bacon (or cut in half again to make the decorating process easier). Add a couple pieces of chopped tomato and serve.

5. Drink more wine.

My brother's funny little video of the night is available on our new Facebook page. Click here to Like Girl+Fire and watch a two and half minute recount of our Chopped-inspired night (Kevin Bacon may or may not make a cameo in the video...).

Strawberry & Goat Cheese Pizza

It was the same old story: there were strawberries in the fridge that had to be used and I wanted to try something completely different. That led me to Savory Strawberry Pizza.

Here's some food math for you: a balsamic reduction + strawberries + goat cheese = yum. It's really that simple. I cheated by using a frozen pizza crust instead of making my own (yes, that means I poisoned myself with wheat--I'm still alive), and then just halved the recipe, more or less.

I could have cut the lettuce up a bit smaller and crumbled the cheese a bit finer, but I wasn't worried about presentation. I was more concerned about getting it into my mouth as fast as possible.

Mini Strawberry & Goat Cheese Pizza

1 7-inch frozen pizza crust
1-2 ounces goat cheese
3/4 cup of sliced strawberries
1/2 cup of greens of your choice, chopped
2 ounces balsamic vinegar, reduced to half

1. Bake the crust (approximately 10 minutes at 350 degrees, depending on your brand).

2. On warm crust smear a thin coating of goat cheese – about an ounce.

3. Toss strawberries in balsamic reduction and spread on top of cheese.

4. Bake at 400 degrees for another 10 minutes.

5. Remove from oven and top with the rest of the goat cheese.

6. Add greens (I used red leaf lettuce).

7. Drizzle entire pizza with remaining reduction.

Yields 1 serving.

I didn't even realize there were two reduction recipes on the page, I was in such a hurry to eat. I wonder what the white reduction would taste like. I love balsamic vinegar, so I was happy with what I made, but your mileage may vary.