Baked Goat Cheese and Blueberry Glaze
This is a delicious salad for any time of the year. The Blueberry Glaze and Goat Cheese pair as beautifully as does the Goat Cheese and a French Sancerre (Sauvignon Blanc grape) from the Loire Valley.
Baked Goat Cheese with Blueberry Glaze
We’ve been making this dish for years, inspired by Jane Rodmell, Best Summer Weekends. It’s perfect as a starter, light lunch or served with Pan Seared Chicken Breasts or Rack of Lamb for dinner. Simply adjust the portions to suit your meal. You can make the Blueberry Syrup days in advance before making the actual Balsamic Glaze Salad Dressing if you prefer. The Blueberry Syrup can be refrigerated for 2 weeks or keeps for months frozen. This syrup recipe makes ½ cup total so there will be leftovers, enough for 8 servings, or freeze ¼ cup for next time.
Ingredients
Blueberry Syrup
- ¼ cup (50 gr) Sugar
- ¼ cup Water
- Lemon peel – 4 inches by ½ inch
- ½ cup (69 gr) Fresh Blueberries
- 2 TBSP Water
Balsamic Glaze Dressing
- ¼ cup (64 gr) Blueberry Syrup
- 2 TBSP Balsamic Vinegar
- 2 TBSP Olive Oil
- ¼ tsp. Salt
- ¼ tsp. Pepper
Salad – 4 dinner sized servings
- 8 oz (227 gr) Goat Cheese cut into 4 pieces
- 8 TBSP (68 gr) Toasted Pine Nuts or (56 gr) Three Farmer’s Crunchy Little Lentils
- 12 cups Baby Greens
- ½ cup Balsamic Glaze Dressing
Instructions
Blueberry Syrup
- Add sugar, water and lemon peel to a small saucepan and bring to a boil or until sugar dissolves. Remove peel and set simple syrup aside to cool.
- In another small sauce pan add the blueberries and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and gently simmer for 7 minutes. The blueberries will be soft, and liquid reduced by 2/3.
- Place simple syrup and blueberries in a small food processor and pulse until as smooth as it can be with blueberry seeds remaining. Refrigerate or freeze until ready to use in the Balsamic Gaze dressing.
Blueberry Balsamic Dressing
- Whisk all ingredients together and set aside until ready to drizzle over salad.
Salad
- Slice goat cheese into rounds and press lentils or pine nuts on all sides. You can refrigerate these until ready to bake later in the day.
- Pre heat oven to 350
- Place goat cheese rounds on baking sheet and cook for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, divide greens between 4 plates, top with a goat cheese round and drizzle 2 TBSP dressing on each plate. Serve immediately.
Notes
Hands down, Goat Cheese and Sancerre were meant to be – what grows together, goes together. We truly prefer a French Sancerre, but a New World Sauvignon Blanc does very nicely!
We’ve paired:
• Chateau de Sancerre 2019
• Domaine Delaporte Sancerre
• Decoy Sauvignon Blanc
• Duckhorn Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2019