An Appetite for Instruction: Cooking with Goat's Cheese

So cheese blogs aren’t just about eating cheese by itself on a plate. In your room. Under the covers. With the lights off. 

No, cheese blogs should be about the celebration of cheese in all its forms. This belief was heartily affirmed when I enjoyed a lovely lunch today with a blogging-and-cheese-loving friend of mine. I ordered some kind of pie, and accompanying it was a Greek salad with hearty chunks of fet(t)a. Each piece, my friends, was so chumpy you could carve it.

Anyhoo, this cheesexperience was so wonderful (“Cheese totally fits with every meal!” – “I know right?”) that I decided to share one of my favourite recipes with you peeps.

Introducing: 

Spaghetti Brocetta with So Much Goat's Cheese

- 400g Pancetta (cut to bacony thickness, either spicy or regular).

- 1 head of broccoli.

- At least, I’d say, 5 cloves of garlic.

- Some really good olive oil.

- 1 punnet of cherry tomatoes (250g ish).

- 1 packet of spaghetti.

- So much goat's cheese. So very much.


 1. Cut the pancetta into little squares (1-2cm in size) and fry them off on a medium heat in a large and deepish frypan. Enjoy aromas where appropriate.

2. Cut the broccoli into small florets and throw them in with the pancetta so they take on the flavour. Add some olive oil here if it starts to dry out (which it will). So…add the oil. Turn the heat down a bit.
3. Finely chop the garlic and add it to the pan (with a dash more olive oil).
4. Halve the cherry tomatoes (and try to avoid getting sprays of tomato innards in your eyes. Good luck). Add half of the quantity of cherry tomato halves to the pan, turn the heat down low and let it simmer away.

Did someone say "simmering"?

Oh wait. You should probably cook pasta while you’re doing this. Um…

5. Cook spaghetti. There are instructions on the packet. Follow them. They’ll know what to do.
6. When things are looking delicious and nicely incorporated in your frypan, add the remaining half of your cherry tomatoes. Then turn off the heat. The frypan will still have some residual heat to warm the tomatoes while you—
7. Drain your pasta and coat it in really nice olive oil (the kind you get for some crazy price per 300ml bottle at farmers’ markets in the country. Really farmer? Is it that good? Yes. Yes it is.)
8. Put your pasta in a bowl, add a couple spoonfuls of the sauce (which should be chunky and not too runny – like a good provincial Italian creation).

And now, most importantly…

9. Add SO MUCH GOAT'S CHEESE. Like, an uncomfortable amount. It’ll be awkward. Your partner will say, “Hey Claire, maybe you should take it easy on the chevre?” And you’ll say, “Cram it Mr. Boring!”

10. Enjoy your meal. It’s so freakin’ good.

So much!