Goat’s Cheese with Lavender Honey (how to make your own)

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Lavender & Goat

Growing and nurturing the source of food

Could there be anything more rewarding than growing your food? Is there anything more beautiful than nurturing the source of your food? Growing, nurturing and respecting this source… appreciating and feeling grateful for the gift we are given. Won’t that just naturally produce better food? Not just better food, but won’t that frame of being make over all better people out of us? In the way we view our food and in the way we respect it, appreciate it, we reflect on all areas of our lives. We are so connected to our food that a disconnect with that world causes a disconnect within ourselves. When we grow our food, when we are in touch with the source, we are in touch with our inner most. We connect with our beautiful self, we eat better food, and we are better people. In the end we do pour everything (even our thoughts and attitudes) into our food and we eventually eat and nurture ourselves with exactly that.

Today I want to appreciate the goat’s milk, and give thanks to the goat. Give thanks to that warm and selfless giving, that sharing of its most nurturing product, the milk with which it lovingly feeds its kids. In this relationship, sharing is beautiful, because we take our need mindful of the kids, without any intention for depletion. Once the goat’s cheese is made (watch the video below to learn how to make your own) there is really no limit to how you can serve the cheese. While the purest and most ultimate way to serve it, to me, is simply sprinkled with my beautiful olive oil along with some olives and perhaps some chopped tomatoes; maybe with shatta for a spicy kick some days… we do like to change and keep things diversified; so today I feel like going all out, celebrating the fields and the riches this beautiful earth generously gives us. Lavender and goat’s cheese are a match made in heaven. A bit of sweet always offers a great contrast to cheese, so why not a lavender honey? And while simply serving the uncooked goat’s cheese that way will be perfect, especially on your cheese boards, if you wish to have another option, then shaping the cheese into balls and then frying them will give you a delicious variation and will pair exceptionally well with the lavender honey. This is an excellent afternoon/sundowner snack to munch on with a friend or your hubby/wife on those days when you’re feeling love all around you. Yes, not your everyday food, fried foods should be had sparingly, but occasionally the change is good.

TIP

If you do not have access to natural lavender honey, don’t worry, I am showing you how to make a lavender honey sauce that works just as well. Because Lavender is a highly aromatic and pungent flavour, there is an art as to how much lavender! This art is simple, the idea is to accentuate and never to over power the goats’ cheese.

This recipe of deep fried goat’s cheese with lavender honey, is seriously good! You are going to love it. The lavender honey sauce is just Divine, and it pairs very well with this cheese as well as other types of cheese, so you can use it as an accompanying sauce for your cheeseboard. And I hope that every time you make this, you will stop for a minute and give thanks to the goat.

Ingredients

Breaded Goat’s Cheese Balls

  • 240g Goat’s cheese, brought to room temperature
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cups organic flour
  • 2 cups bread crumbs (recipe on this link)
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp DS Pink Himalayan Salt
  • Black pepper to taste
  • 4 tbsp toasted pumpkin seeds, roughly ground

For Lavender Honey Sauce

  • 4 tbsp raw honey
  • 3 tbsp Dried lavender flowers
  • 1/2 cup hot water
  • 30g butter, chopped

A day ahead Start by steeping the lavender flowers in 1/2 cup hot water. Cover the cup tightly and leave it to steep and infuse over night.

On serving day using a melon baller, scoop the goat’s cheese. You want the size to be ‘bite-size’. Roll the cheese into a ball, and set over a lined tray with baking paper. Let it rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the honey sauce:

Using a sieve, drain the infused lavender water, reserving the liquid and discard the lavender flowers. Place the raw honey in a saucepan, add 3 tbsp of the lavender water to it, stir to mix. Place the saucepan over medium heat, and gently heat, continuously mixing, for about 7 minutes – without bringing to a boil. Once heated through, and well incorporated, add butter pieces, one at a time mixing well after each addition – until the butter is no longer visible. And repeat, until you have used all the butter. Remove from heat, transfer to serving jug and set aside.

In a flat dish, mix well together the breadcrumbs and pumpkin seeds.

Place the flour in another flat plate, and prepare the egg wash: whisk together 1 large egg with 1 tbsp water (room temperature) until well incorporated. Place the three items on your work surface ready to dip and coat the cheese balls.

Once the cheese balls have rested for 20 minutes, remove from the fridge and roll in the flour to cover, dust off any excess, then dip in the egg wash, then roll in the prepared bread crumbs. Repeat the process twice for each cheese ball, to ensure a thick crust has formed to protect the goat’s cheese as it fries. Place on a lined tray with baking paper. Finish all the cheese balls this way.

Fry at 330F-170C for 2 minutes or until a deep golden colour is achieved. Do not keep them for a long time in the oil, or the cheese will burst and melt! Drain the fried cheese balls on paper towels.

Place the fried cheese balls on a serving plate/bowl, and drizzle with the Lavender Honey Sauce. Keep the honey jug close by for top off if needed.

Serve warm.

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