Salad with Goat Cheese

Last night I made this salad.

My inspiration came from this recipe but I made quite a few changes, simply because I didn’t like some of the things they used or I had other things that would work just as well.  One thing I hope all cooks learn is that it’s so easy to make do with what you have in your own kitchen.

Here are the modifications I made:

• Oranges – I used mandarins
• Walnuts – don’t like them so much so I toasted almond slivers
• Red Onion – didn’t want it — Vince doesn’t like raw onion, not red, not Vidalia . . no raw onions.
• White Vinegar – I used balsamic
• Pistachios – I left them out.  They’re expensive and I wasn’t going to buy them just to grind them up.
• Seasoned Bread Crumbs – I used Italian seasoned panko.

Instead of oiling the goat cheese, I heated a skillet on the stove, ran a stick of butter across the top and then seared the panko encrusted goat cheese in the skillet.

I added sliced strawberries and mushrooms (because I had them in the fridge).

That’s a salad I think I could eat every day!  The leftover dressing — Vince took a piece of bread and sopped it up.  This recipe was definitely a hit around here and really quick and easy to make.