Have you guys heard about this silly “war on cheese” in the US? I say silly because, well, I think it’s ridiculous. You’ve probably gathered {since I flat out tell you almost every post} that I’m a huge fan of cheese. HUGE. I’m in distress at the lack of cheese here in Vietnam, and if I return home to a USA devoid of smelly, delicious, flavorful cheese thanks to the FDA being ridiculous, I WILL BE MAD. Gimme that bacteria-filled cheese!
I do understand that having life-threatening bacteria present in a cheese-making operation is no bueno, but I think that article makes a good point: just because one producer has XYZ bacteria present on their surfaces, doesn’t mean everyone does. Attacking the use of wood after finding bacteria on one producers wood doesn’t make total sense — as the article points out, you wouldn’t do the same for stainless steel! I’m no food scientist, so I won’t claim to know what the best outcome of this is, but it seems that we’ve been fine for thousands of years eating cheese made on wooden boards. Surely there is a way to continue!
I thought, as my personal stand for delicious cheese, I’d share this spring goat cheese tart with you all today. I have half a mind to start a darn goat cheese operation over here in Vietnam — there are plenty of goats! I have absolutely no expertise on goat cheese production, so perhaps they’re not the right kind of goats, but SURELY we could find some! This country is in serious need of goat cheese! And I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t run into any problem about sanitation practices… not that this is necessarily a good thing.
This tart is deceptively simple — kind of like the gruyere asparagus tart I posted a while back. Get yourself some puff pastry, bake it, add goat cheese, mint, peas, cherry ‘maters, any other springy veggie you want, bake some more: DONE. Beautiful. Delicious. Fake-fancy. I’m all about the fake-fancy.
Those of you with better growing climates in the US are probably already harvesting some early garden bounty! Maybe you have a lot of mint and and some peas already! I’m jealous!
- 1 sheet frozen puff pastry
- ¼ cup packed fresh mint leaves
- 6 oz goat chevre
- ⅓ cup fresh peas
- ½ cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- pepper
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- Thaw the puff pastry according to the directions on the package (let sit at room temperature for an hour, or overnight in the fridge).
- Preheat the oven to 400 F.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the pastry dough out to a 16"x10" rectangle. With a knife, lightly score a border 1" from the edge. Do not cut all the way through.
- With a fork, prick the area inside the border in 1" intervals.
- Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 15 minutes, or until golden.
- While the pastry is baking, chop the mint leaves and mix with the goat cheese.
- Remove the pastry and evenly spread the goat cheese inside the perforated edge on the pastry.
- Top with the peas, cherry tomatoes, and a good dose of pepper. Lightly brush the edges of the pastry with olive oil.
- Bake until the tomatoes have slightly softened, another 10-15 minutes.
- Cut into small squares to serve.
Totally agree, cheese is my #1 favorite food. Love your blog – very interesting recipes!
Corbin
Decor-Eat