When I made this for dinner a week ago, Ella said, “Me want one of those cookies.” Oh, she was disappointed when the “cookie” turned out to be goat cheese.

I, however, can think of few things that sound BETTER to me than a cookie made of goat cheese.

This salad is one of our very favorites, and I like making big batches of the goat cheese discs and keeping them in the freezer for an easy main or side dish.

If you want to make this a main dish, I’ve added grilled chicken to it and it is excellent. But we also eat it sans-chicken as a main dish too because I am too lazy to defrost and grill chicken on many many evenings.

goat cheese salad

5 from 1 vote

Goat Cheese Salad with Peaches, Strawberries, and Poppy Seed Dressing

This salad is one of our very favorites and the goat cheese discs are heavenly!

Course Main Dish, Salad

Cuisine American

Author Janssen Bradshaw

Ingredients

For Goat Cheese Discs:

1 cup pecans
12 ounces goat cheese slightly softened
2 T chopped fresh chives or the green part of a green onion
1 t minced fresh or dried thyme
1 egg
1 T water

Poppy seed Dressing:

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup white vinegar
1 1/2 T white onion chopped
1 cup oil
1 1/2 T poppy seeds

To assemble salad:

6 - 8 cups salad greens I like spinach or red leaf lettuce
6-8 strawberries sliced
1-2 peaches sliced thinly
Candied nuts optional

Instructions

For goat cheese discs:

In a food processor, grind the pecans until finally chopped. Place on a small plate. Add the goat cheese, chives/onions, and thyme to the food processor and run until well combined.
On a second small plate, beat the egg with the water until smooth.
Spray your hands with some cooking spray, and scoop out about 2 T of the goat cheese mixture, roll it into a ball and then dip it in the egg mixture and then roll in the pecans. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Repeat until all your goat cheese is gone.
Spray the bottom of a drinking glass or measuring cup with cooking spray and flatten each goat cheese ball until it's just over 1/4 inch thick.
Freeze for two hours.
If you're baking them immediately after freezing, preheat the oven 475 and bake for 8-10 minutes. Otherwise, transfer them to a tupperware or other container for freezing (I've kept mine in the freezer for over a month with no problem).

For dressing:

Put first five ingredients in a blender and blend until the onion is pulverized. With the blender running, slowly add oil. Stir in poppy seeds.

To assemble salad:

Wash and dry the salad greens. Place on a plate or in a bowl, arrange sliced peaches on top, scatter the strawberries on the peaches and top with the candied nuts, if using them. Finish the salad off with the warm goat cheese discs and serve with poppy seed dressing.

Recipe Notes

(adapted from Perry's Plate)

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5 Comments

I have ALL the ingredients for this except for the poppy seeds. I think Henry and I will walk down to the market and make this for dinner tonight!

This looks awesome! p.s. I read every blog post you do but I am really lazy and never comment on anyone's blog anymore. So have no fear-I am still a loyal reader. Definitely need to make this once I stock up on goat cheese again!

The goat cheese in this salad looks divine! YUM.

yum yum yum. I LOVE goat cheese. I just found a log (worst word) of goat cheese in the fridge … expires on july 28th — hoping it's okay because I am definitely making these today. Can't wait to hear Simon's thoughts (he hates soft cheese).

thanks!!

Hey I finally read French kids eat Everything. It was unexpectedly really good. Thanks for the recommend.

Goat Cheese Salad with Peaches, Strawberries and Poppy Seed Dressing

goat cheese salad