Farmers’ Market Salad with Spiced Goat Cheese Rounds

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One of the benefits of living in the Midwest, people tout, is that you get to experience all 4 seasons. I’m not so sure about that. I find that our only “springtime” tends to be that 3 day period between having the heat on to cranking the air. Fall fairs a little bit better, where you may actually get a week or two of nice temperatures in between gross humidity and 2 feet of snow. But this year? Summer is looking very springy. And I love it. We’ve really only had a week or two of that gross humidity and 90+ temps (and sure, for me, one of those days was spent with thousands of  other people below Wrigley Field waiting out a lightning storm for nearly 2.5 hours so a Pearl Jam concert could resume). This week, temperatures have been in the 70s and absolutely gorgeous. Some people are complaining about it, but me? I’m enjoying the hell out of it.

As you can probably tell, I’m not really a huge fan of the summer we typically experience here. But one thing that’s always good about summer? The produce. We eat copious amounts of sweet berries, devour watermelon, and relish in fresh tomatoes. It’s pretty hard to not like summer, if for nothing other than its bountiful produce.

This salad uses some of those great fresh tomatoes alongside green beans, mixed greens, basil, potatoes, and goat cheese. It makes for a great side or meal on its own, or serve it with a chicken breast for something more substantial. I decided to blanch the green beans and roast the potatoes (the original recipe calls for steaming both), and also made my vinaigrette a bit more acidic (personal preference). I think the goat cheese rounds would also be fabulous if a little panko was added to the coating and they were pan-fried, so I might try that next time.

 

Farmers’ Market Salad with Spiced Goat Cheese Rounds

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5 thoughts on “Farmers’ Market Salad with Spiced Goat Cheese Rounds

  1. You know, last summer when we met up with you, Chicago was decidedly un-summery. I thought we were the only ones who had unpredictably cold summers.

  2. I am definitely with you on the produce love! I hate the humidity but that all makes it worth it! Although, admittedly, the fried goat cheese is what’s really reeling me in here.

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