Goat Cheese Custard Food

GOAT CHEESE CUSTARD

Steps:

• Combine milk, onion, garlic, bay leaf, and thyme in a medium saucepan over medium heat until bubbles start to form around the edges of the pan.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Remove from heat, add goat cheese and stir until smooth. Let stand 5 minutes, then strain into a glass measuring cup. Discard solids.
• Whisk eggs and yolks in a bowl. Add the goat cheese mixture and season with salt. Spray a 4 cup ceramic baking dish or 6-4 oz. ramekins. Pour goat cheese mixture into each dish.
• Place in a large roasting pan. Fill roasting pan with boiling water reaching half way up the sides of the dishes. Carefully transfer to oven.
• Bake 30-40 minutes, until center is set but still wobbly (watch closely it will be much closer to 30 minutes for the ramekins).
• Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Serve warm.

GOAT CHEESE CUSTARDS WITH STRAWBERRIES IN RED WINE SYRUP

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350F (175C).
• Place four custard cups or ramekins in a deep baking dish or pan.
• Blend together the goat cheese, sugar, milk (or cream), egg yolks, and vanilla for 30 seconds until very smooth.
• Divide the mixture into the custard cups; each should be a bit more than half full.
• Add warm tap water to the baking pan, to make a water bath for baking the custards. The water should reach to about halfway up the side of each custard cup.
• Cover the pan with foil and bake for 15 to 20-minutes.
• When done, remove the custards from the water bath and cool completely.
• In a non-reactive skillet, cook the red wine and sugar until the bubbles get thick (see photo above.)
• Once the syrup is reduced to half its original quantity (1/4 cup, 60ml), remove from heat and scrape into a bowl to cool completely.
• Rinse, hull, and slice strawberries. Toss in syrup, let stand for a minute to two, then spoon onto custards.

CARAMELIZED ONION AND GOAT CHEESE TARTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450°F. and butter a baking sheet. Cut onion into very thin slices. In a heavy skillet heat butter over moderately high heat until foam subsides and sauté onion, stirring occasionally, until golden. Add water and deglaze skillet, scraping up any brown bits and cooking until water is evaporated. Stir in thyme and cook mixture until onion is deep golden.
• While onion is cooking, cutting lengthwise along a fold line, cut off one third of pastry sheet, about 10 by 3 inches, and reserve remaining pastry for another use. Halve pastry strip crosswise and transfer pieces to baking sheet. Prick pastry all over with a fork and bake in middle of oven until deep golden, about 12 minutes. Transfer a pastry piece with a spatula to each of 2 plates and immediately press down centers to form an indentation for goat cheese and onion. Spread goat cheese in middle of pastry pieces and top with caramelized onion.
• Garnish tarts with fresh thyme sprigs and serve immediately.

GOAT CHEESE ICE CREAM WITH ROASTED RED CHERRIES

Steps:

• Prep
• Mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry. Whisk the goat cheese, cream cheese, and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Fill a large bowl with ice and water.
• Cook
• Combine the remaining milk, the cream, sugar, and corn syrup in a 4-quart saucepan, bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, and boil for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat, and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring with a rubber spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat.
• Chill
• Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the cream cheese mixture until smooth. Pour the mixture into a 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bag and submerge the sealed bag in the ice bath. Let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until cold, about 30 minutes.
• Freeze
• Pour the ice cream base into the frozen canister and spin until thick and creamy. Pack the ice cream into a storage container, alternating it with layers of the cherries and ending with a spoonful of cherries; do not mix. Press a sheet of parchment directly against the surface, and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.

GOAT CHEESE AND ONION TARTS

Steps:

• Make dough:
• Cut butter into bits and in a bowl with a pastry blender or in a food processor blend or pulse together with flour and salt until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 2 tablespoons ice water and toss with a fork or pulse until incorporated. Add enough remaining ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork or pulsing to incorporate, to form a dough. On a work surface smear dough with heel of hand in 3 or 4 forward motions to make dough easier to work with. Divide dough in half and pat each half into a rectangle, about 6 by 3 inches. Chill rectangles, wrapped separately in plastic wrap, at least 1 hour and up to 1 week.
• Thinly slice onions and in a large skillet cook with salt to taste in oil, covered, over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes, or until softened. Cook onions, uncovered, stirring, until golden and any liquid in skillet is evaporated.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• On a lightly floured surface roll out 1 dough rectangle into a 16 x 6-inch rectangle and fit it into a 13 1/2 x 4 x 1-inch tart pan with a removable fluted rim. Roll a rolling pin over pastry to trim it flush with top of rim and prick bottom of shell in several places with a fork. Make 1 more tart shell in another tart pan in same manner.
• Line shells with foil and fill with pie weights or raw rice. Bake shells in middle of oven 10 minutes. Carefully remove foil and weights or rice and bake shells until pale golden, about 5 minutes more.
• While shells are baking, whisk together goat cheese, butter, and sour cream until smooth and whisk in eggs until combined well. Season custard with salt and pepper.
• Spread onions evenly in shells and pour custard over onions. Sprinkle thyme over custard and bake tarts in middle of oven 20 minutes, or until puffed and golden. Cool tarts in pans on racks (filling will deflate). Tarts may be made 2 days ahead, cooled completely in pans, and chilled, covered, in pans. Reheat tarts in pans, uncovered, in a 350°F. oven about 15 minutes to crisp crusts. Remove rims from pans.
• Cut tarts crosswise into 3/4-inch-wide slices to make about 32 hors d'oeuvres and, if desired, halve slices crosswise to make about 64 hors d'oeuvres. Serve tarts warm or at room temperature.

BAKED SAVORY CUSTARD WITH CHEESE

Steps:

• Put cream in a small pot with thyme and garlic, if you're using them. Cook just until it begins to steam. Heat oven to 300 degrees and set a kettle of water to boil.
• Put eggs, cayenne and salt in a medium bowl and whisk or beat until blended; stir in the cheese. Remove thyme and garlic from cream, then add cream gradually to egg mixture, whisking constantly. Pour mixture into a 1-quart dish or into 4 ramekins or custard cups.
• Put dish or ramekins in a deep baking pan and pour boiling water in, to within about 1 inch of top of dish or ramekins. Bake until mixture is not quite set; it should jiggle a bit in middle. This will take about 30 minutes for ramekins and longer for baking dish; also, cream sets faster than milk. Serve warm, at room temperature, or cold within a few hours of baking.

SUMMER SQUASH CUSTARD WITH GOAT CHEESE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F Coat an 8 x 8-inch baking dish or 6 individual ramekins with nonstick cooking spray.
• Place the squash and onion in a large saucepan in enough water to cover them. Cook over medium-high heat, covered, until the squash are tender, about 15 minutes. Strain well and mash slightly with a potato masher or large fork.
• Add the goat cheese and butter while still hot and stir until melted.
• Mix in the cornmeal, eggs, milk, dill, sugar, salt, and pepper.
• Pour into baking dish or individual ramekins
• Bake for 40 minutes (35 minutes for the ramekins) or until golden brown on top.
• Serve warm or at room temperature.