Whipped Goat Cheese Spread

Oh hai.

So this summer I met my sister-in-law for happy-hour on the roof of a restaurant in Seattle. Just your run-of-the-mill afternoon in Seattle where you wander into a traditional French cafe and watch the sunset over the Puget Sound while you sip champagne cocktails.

I was meeting her to catch a ride to Portland during The Dark Days of Unemployment - I was taking the short ride to see if it would broaden my potential job options. But obviously we needed nourishment before hitting the road.

I have long-since forgotten most of what we ate, but one dish has stuck with me over the months. We enjoyed whipped goat cheese spread with crostini and crudites. The cheese was light and mousse-y; salty and tangy, and utterly addictive.

This spread takes about 3 minutes to whip together if you have a food processor and at least 30 minutes to set up in the fridge. Aside from prepping the sides, this comes together so quickly that it will be easy to add into any holiday party line-up! Also consider adding in a few tablespoons of chopped herbs to any batch. The original recipe calls for chives, and I've seen basil used in other variations. Chopped rosemary, parsley, or even cracked pepper.

As you can imagine, any sort of toppings will work well with this. I chose to make mine with some cracked pepper in the spread, and a light dusting of smoky spicy paprika on top. I shmooshed it on some lightly toasted baguette and topped it with prosciutto or thinly sliced radishes.

It tasted surprisingly like summer, and with the variety of toppings, can be a great all-season party treat. Or, if you're ambitious, great for two people with a bottle of bubbles and your next holiday movie marathon.


Whipped Goat Cheese Spread
Adapted from The Internet

Serves 4 as an appetizer

1/2 cup whipping cream
2 Tbls milk
4 oz. soft goat cheese
1 - 2 Tbls mix-in of your preference

1. In a bowl of a food processor fitted with the chopping blade, add all the ingredients.
2. Pulse the ingredients until combined. Turn the blade on and whip until light and fluffy - only about 30 seconds.
3. Spoon the mixture into a ramekin - mine came straight to the rim. Top it with a piece of parchment and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. Serve with crackers, bread, veggies, meat, and/or spoon.

OKMH Reveal: June 2013

It's my new favorite holiday: OKMH Box Reveal!

The Women

The huge hearts and open kitchens of these seven women come together to give gifts of wonder and delight every other month. And this month's theme is oh-so-summer appropriate: Picnics!

This month I received from Mads and I am (as always) so thrilled and giddy with the contents.
Here's the haul:

Contents include the bare essentials (except for the cheese) that you would need for basically the best picnic ever: Wine. Oh, and plates, napkins, tablecloth, and some food and witty tea towels. But let's focus on the essentials: WINE. Travel size wine. If there's two things I love, it's wine. Let me start over... If there's two things I love, it's wine and travel-sized things.

Classy wine, classy meat, and classy crackers

There's not a lot of sun in Seattle, so planning for picnics is difficult when you also need a blue tarp, rain coat, and the flexibility to eat soggy sandwiches when your sunny picnic falls on one of the 300 rainy days we get in a year. But with just a few essentials, I can basically keep an "Emergency Picnic" kit in my car, set for those rare sunny days (let alone on a weekend!).

Now, as I write this, we are mid-way through a sunny, warm streak and Seattle is actually seeing some summer weather that so-often eludes us. So you might think that I'm exaggerating when I say that picnics (or any other activity) often get rained out here. That's fine. I don't mind when you sit there being wrong in your wrongness. But since we can't relate and are now fighting, I'm going to share my wine with someone else. Like... my other hand.

*UPDATE: Mads also included some out-of-this-world chocolate chip cookies. They're not pictured because I had to eat them immediately.

Don't mind me... I'm just delusional and belligerent from a weekend of more sun than I've had the rest of the year and my skin is now a sassy shade of pink (a side effect of impromptu picnics... pack sunscreen, too!)
And without further ado... check out what the other gals sent/received for picnic month!
I sent to Kirsten at Comfortably Domestic.
Kirsten sent to Jeanne at Inside NanaBread's Head.
Jeanne sent to Megan at Wanna Be a Country Cleaver.
Megan sent to Allison at Decadent Philistines Save the World.
Allison sent to Kat at Tenaciously Yours.
Kat sent to Mads at La Petite Pancake.


What are your picnic essentials?