How to turn a Yummy Fall Salad into a Party Appetizer!


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Do you find that most appetizer parties favor high carb foods? Many finger foods are either deep fried or are partnered with some kind of cracker, bread or chip. It makes it difficult to stay slim when indulging on all of these fatty foods paired with alcoholic beverages! I was in need of selecting an appetizer to take to a cocktail party. With an abundance of great Talley Farms produce handy, I decided to think outside the box and come up with something that was healthy, low carb and edible as finger food. I created what I am calling Autumn Salad on a Spoon

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One of the inspirations for this dish was some incredible homemade goat cheese gifted to me from a dear friend. She owns a rustic farm stay style bed & breakfast located on a beautiful 40 acre ranch tucked away in the heart of the central coast wine country called Rancho Dos Amantes. She has a property full of amazing floral and vegetable gardens, a herd of goats and several chickens on the property and makes her own cheeses. After receiving several containers of her fantastic goat cheese, I decided it was time to do something different with it. So I decided to make goat cheese croutons! 

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I then had to figure out how to create a salad that would be edible as finger food. I had 24 cute individual serving metal spoons that I thought would be perfect as a vessel for my salad as it would allow the guests to eat them in one bite and I could refrigerate them to serve the salad chilled. (You could easily use many other serving vessels for this appetizer or could alternately present it on a platter if you choose)

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I used a mixture of baby green butter and red leaf lettuces and shredded them into tiny shreds. This I topped with a duo of radish slices – (red and white) and tiny wedges of roasted golden beets. I placed one goat cheese crouton on each spoon, sprinkled some toasted chopped pistachio nuts and drizzled the spoons with a honey mustard vinaigrette. Every item on the spoon added a distinctive individual taste and together they were a symphony of flavor! 

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Autumn Salad on a Spoon

Yield: 24 bite-sized spoon portions

Ingredients

  • 1/2 large head of baby butter lettuce or red leaf or a mixture of both, shredded in tiny shred
  • 4 radishes sliced thin, select a variety for additional color if available
  • 2 golden beets, roasted and sliced into tiny wedges
  • 1/4 cup pistachio nuts, toasted and chopped 
  • 1/8 cup honey
  • 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
  • 1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • goat cheese, select a log or semi-soft variety
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • olive oil for pan frying
  • kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

  1. Make the dressing: whisk together honey, mustard and vinegars in a bowl or jar. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until emulsified and season with salt and pepper.
  2. Shape 24 (make a few extra just in case) goat cheese patties about 1 1/4″ in diameter & about 1/2 inch thick and place on a parchment covered quarter sheet pan. Freeze the patties for 15- 20 minutes. While they are freezing, set up a dipping station with #1-flour, #2-egg, #3-panko crumbs. Take the cheese patties out of the freezer and carefully dip them in the flour, then egg and then panko crumbs replacing them on the parchment covered quarter sheet pan. Place the pan back in the freezer for another 20 minutes.
  3. While the coated cheese patties are freezing, assemble the salad spoons. Place a spoonful of lettuces in each spoon and top with a couple radish slices and a couple beet wedges. Set aside.
  4. Heat enough olive oil to coat the bottom of a non-stick frying pan at medium high. Remove the cheese patties from the freezer and fry them 6 -8 at a time in the olive oil for 2 minutes per side or until crisp and golden. (Do not crowd them in the pan and turn them carefully to ensure the cheese remains intact) Remove and drain on paper towels. Continue 3 more batches or until all of the croutons are cooked.
  5. Place one goat cheese crouton on top of each salad spoon. Sprinkle the spoons with pistachio nuts and drizzle the salad dressing on lightly. You want to taste the flavor of the dressing, but you don’t want the salad swimming in it so use a tiny spoon to drizzle lightly.
  6. Serve immediately!

Note

  • This salad can be served in bite sized servings, on individual salad plates or on a platter. As a starter salad this recipe will serve 6 individual portions.

(click here) for printable recipe

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