Recipe: Cervelle de Canut (Herbed Goat Cheese with Walnut Crostini)

the appetizer:

Taste the nouvelle Northwest in Braiden Rex-Johnson's latest cookbook, Pacific Northwest Wining & Dining. Recipes include Cervelle de Canut (Herbed Goat Cheese with Walnut Crostini); Baked Oysters with Orange-Thyme Beurre Blanc and Citrus Zest; and Blue Cheesecake.

Cervelle de Canut
Herbed Goat Cheese
with Walnut Crostini

Serves 6 to 8 as an appetizer
Makes 2 cups
Varietal: Chardonnay (unoaked)
or Syrah

8 ounces Juniper Grove Fromage
Blanc or soft, fresh
goat's-milk cheese (chèvre)
1/2 cup crème fraîche
1/4 cup minced shallots
Juice and freshly grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon minced fresh chives
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
12 to 16 slices artisan walnut bread, toasted
1/2 head frisée, torn into bite-sized pieces

With a whisk or in a food processor, whip the fromage blanc and crème fraîche with the shallots, lemon juice and zest, olive oil, parsley, and chives. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To serve, spread the herbed goat cheese on the toasted walnut bread and arrange on a serving plate. Top with frisée leaves.

from:
Pacific Northwest Wining & Dining
The People, Places, Food, and Drink of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia
by Braiden Rex-Johnson
Wiley 2007
Hardcover; 288 pages; $34.95
ISBN-10: 0471746851
ISBN-13: 978-0-471-74685-0
Recipe reprinted by permission.

Buy Pacific Northwest Wining & Dining