Goat Cheese – How to Use It

 Occasionally my bargain-hunting outruns my common sense, and I buy way too much of an ingredient because it’s on sale.  About a week ago an irresistible double package of goat cheese landed in my shopping cart.

Once I got it home I began to wonder what I was going to do with 20 ounces of this soft white cheese.  I took one package to a dinner party.  The other sat forlornly in the cheese drawer for a week until I remembered a quiche recipe an English friend sent me.  Conveniently it called for goat cheese.

The directions said
to mash up 4 ounces with some raw eggs.  That’s when I realized that goat cheese and cream cheese have a lot in common.  In fact, a smear of goat cheese on a toasted bagel turns out to be pretty tasty.  It’s also good spread on toast.  Best of all, though was the quiche.  Now I have hardly any goat cheese left.

Potato and Goat Cheese Quiche – serves 4 

Partly-baked pie crust - recipe here
About 1- 1 1/4 pounds Yukon gold or red potatoes
3 large eggs
4 ounces goat cheese
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1/4 cup chopped black olives, preferably Kalamata olives
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary needles or 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper 

Put the potatoes in a medium-size pot and cover with water.  Bring to a boil over high heat and then cook, covered, until a knife slides through the potato fairly easily.  If you overcook the potatoes, you won’t be able to slice them thinly because they’ll fall apart.  Once they are cooked, pour away the hot water and add cold water to cool them quickly. 

Pull off the potato skins.  They will come away easily.  Slice the potatoes into 1/3-inch slices and set aside. 

Begin preheating the oven to 400 degrees. 

Combine the eggs, goat cheese, garlic, olives, rosemary, salt and black pepper in a medium-size bowl.  Stir thoroughly with a fork, continuing to mash the cheese until it is well combined with the rest of the mixture. 

Place the potatoes in the partly-baked pie crust, overlapping them, until all the slices are used.  If some of the potatoes break apart, add them anyway.  Carefully pour the egg mixture over the potato slices.  Bake for about 30 minutes, or until some of the potatoes on top start browning. 

Serve immediately or let cool for 10 minutes and then serve.

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