Spring salad

One of my favorite, never-remember-it ingredients is goat cheese. I love its creaminess and its slight tang. But when I don't have it, I forget to buy it; when I do, I forget to use it.

So, I thought ahead this time and picked out a recipe that featured it: salad with raspberry-poppy seed dressing and almond-crusted goat cheese. It looked like a nice accompaniment to grilled chicken, or a way to spruce up the usual mixed greens.

The dish started inauspiciously. First, Will couldn't find either mesclun mix or goat cheese while he was at the grocery store. I didn't mind the mesclun so much -- I prefer mixing up my own greens anyway, and suggested he just grab some romaine -- but the goat cheese was a must-have, necessitating a side trip to the upscale grocery. There, I found some goat cheese that was already sliced into rounds, so I figured the signs were right to proceed now.

When Will was ready to start grilling, I started to put together the salad dressing. This was easy: Throw some (thawed) frozen raspberries, sugar, red wine vinegar, dry mustard, minced red onion, salt and lemon juice into the food processor and blend. Slowly blend in a copious amount of olive oil. Add a tablespoon of poppy seeds. Then pour into a funky little salad dressing bottle and set aside.

Meanwhile, I prepared the goat cheese. While I was gathering the ingredients, I discovered that what I thought was a bag of sliced almonds was actually slivered almonds, which seemed thicker than the recipe intended. So I threw the almonds into the nut and spice grinder with a little flour, which keeps them from turning into paste.

I squashed the goat cheese into thinner patties. Then I dredged them in flour, turned them in an egg wash, and coated them with the ground almonds. I put the cheese into a glass baking dish, then drizzled a little melted butter over the cheese and baked it for 10 minutes.

While that was baking, I hurriedly threw together a meager salad of romaine, plum tomatoes and red onions. I didn't want too hearty a salad because I wanted the warm goat cheese to be the centerpiece. When the cheese came out of the oven, I put it on top the salad and drizzled the raspberry vinaigrette over it.

THE VERDICT: Most excellent. The cheese was just the right temperature and consistency, with a nice crunch from the almond crust. The sweetness of the raspberry dressing was an excellent complement to the tang of the cheese. Will, Keith and Alex all had seconds. The recipe makes a lot of dressing, so I'm looking forward to salads all week.