Taste Buds: Herbed Goat Cheese with Blood Orange Vinaigrette

I got the idea for this recipe after swirling around ideas from my new book Working the plate and from salivating over my sister-in-law’s, Mrs. Lambchop, post about blood red oranges YUMM. Luckily at the market the other day I found nice ripe blood oranges and grabbed an entire bag. Sometimes the things I come up with don’t work out and I find myself running back to the store constantly buying more until I get it right. I am learning to buy in bulk for my experiments.

If you have never had a blood orange like me, I just tried my first one last week, you find that these oranges, which are a relative of the sweet orange, BURST with so much flavour. The red color actually comes from the presence of anthocyanin which is found in a bunch of red flowers and fruit but uncommon in citrus fruit.



I wanted something tangy to compliment the yummy sweet of the orange and after trying several combinations I ended up with an Herbed Goat Cheese that perfectly set off the flavour of the sweet oranges. This recipe is not only amazing but it looks really pretty too. Oh and I let Mrs. Fruit taste test it, she almost swooned in delight.

RECIPE: HERBED GOAT CHEESE WITH BLOOD ORANGES INGREDIENTS 6 tablespoons balsamic vinaigrette 1 tablespoon cold butter 2 blood red oranges 4 oz of goat cheese 3 chives 10 black olives 5 sun dried tomatoes ½ French baguette DIRECTIONS 1. Put dried sun dried tomatoes into a cup of steaming hot water and set aside. 2. Cook vinaigrette over medium heat until reduced to 2/3. Stir in cold butter ½ tablespoon at a time until completely melted. Set sauce to the side. 3. Remove skin off of the oranges, section and remove the white pilth with a paring knife. Cut into rough chunks and put into the reduced vinaigrette to marinate. Stir and let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. 4. Finely mince chives, black olives, and sun dried tomatoes. Mix in a small bowl with goat cheese until well combined. Cover and put in the refrigerator. 5. Set your oven to broil. Cut baguette into 10 pieces and place pieces on a baking sheet. Cook for 2-4 minutes until nicely toasted. 5. Assemble by placing some of the goat cheese on the bread, top with a generous helping of blood red orange vinaigrette mixture. Serve immediately.

Makes 10