Creamy Goat Cheese with Lemony Za’atar by Alison Roman

This recipe was a HIT – 8 oz. of crumbled cheese gone in 20 minutes flat. It also didn’t hurt that I served it with homemade sourdough bread. 

I started by toasting sesame seeds in a skillet until golden and fragrant. Then I added olive oil, finely chopped lemon, fresh thyme, salt and pepper. These ingredients spent only two minutes over the heat before I poured them over the crumbled goat cheese. I let the bowl sit for 30 minutes before sticking it in the fridge. I served this appetizer alongside Alison’s Marinated Artichoke Hearts. 

A few tips: 

• Buy a large log of goat cheese from TJ’s and crumble it yourself. They sell 12oz. Logs of cheese for only $5, whereas the crumbled version only comes in 6oz. containers and they’re more expensive. Don’t even try to look at Whole Foods - you’ll overpay no matter what. 

• Don’t skip the sumac. I get that this is a more niche ingredient for many of us and it can be hard to find. If you don’t have a middle eastern grocery story near you, then it’s worth buying sumac online. If you cook a lot of Alison’s recipes, then you’ll use it up quickly. 

• This is probably a no-brainer for most people, but it was a revelation for me. I’ve recently started buying bags of sesame seeds vs. tiny spice jars. I find that sesame seeds are much more affordable in bulk, and I go through them very quickly when cooking Alison’s recipes. I’ve found the bulk bags hidden on a bottom shelf in the spice aisle at Whole Foods, or in the back corner of the produce dept. at Cub Foods.

For those curious, of Alison’s appetizers that I’ve made thus far (I’ve cooked 10, and have 10 left to go), here are my top 3 favorites: 

1. Spicy-Tomato Marinated Feta

2. Creamy Goat Cheese with Lemony Za’atar

3. Crispy Haloumi with Honey and Pistachio

115 recipes cooked, 110 to go.

Buttermilk-Brined Chicken with Fresh Za'atar by Alison Roman

A buttermilk brined chicken is the first kind of whole chicken I ever cooked. Samin Nosrat’s famous buttermilk-brined chicken to be exact. Alison’s chicken asks you to be slightly more extra and throw some smashed garlic and shallots into the brine, but other than that, the recipes are nearly the same in concept. 

Brining a chicken requires no skill, only forethought. The effort is always worth it. Salty brines create a tenderized, juicier meat that stands squarely in opposition to every dry chicken breast I ate in the past. It’s because of buttermilk brined chicken that I’ve committed to always brining birds that I plan to roast, even if the recipe doesn’t suggest it. 

This chicken was pleasant, a good chicken. The flavor is subtle and nothing extraordinary, which means it’s versatile. Throw it on a salad, a sandwich, on noodles! Or eat it with some fresh Za’atar. I discovered early on in this project the magic of Za’atar, when I first made Alison’s butter-tossed radishes. Fresh Za’atar gives a delightful, salty-sour attitude to this bird, helping it really sing. I served this chicken with Caramelized Winter Squash, which I’ll write about soon. 

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A personal anecdote about buttermilk. For a long time, the very idea of buttermilk made me squeamish. My mother used to tell stories of being forced to eat unappetizing foods as a child. Her parents grew up in the Netherlands during World War II, a time when food was very scarce. So I understand why, out of principle, they made their children clean their plates. But I couldn’t get the picture out of my head of my mother, freckled with a bright blonde bob, sobbing at the table as she tried to swallow another brussel sprout. For this reason, my siblings and I were never fed the foods that so traumatized her. These included brussel sprouts, cabbage, lentils, and warm buttermilk. Yes, my mom was told to drink warm buttermilk. Apparently to my grandparents, this was a delicacy, and they couldn’t imagine anyone not craving it. But it made my mom’s stomach turn. For this reason, I shuttered at the very idea of buttermilk until I was 26--the age when I first made buttermilk-brined chicken. 

23 recipes cooked, 202 to go.

Butter-Tossed Radishes with Fresh Za'atar by Alison Roman

This was one of those recipes that I could easily flip past. Why? A) I never considered myself a radish person, and B) what is Za’atar? What caught my attention on Page 58 of Dining In was a note from Alison that reads, 

“I don’t have anything else important to say about this dish, only that it is probably my favorite one in the whole book.” 

Alright, I’m intrigued. The ingredients are simple. Mainly radishes, garlic, oil, butter, vinegar, and Za’atar. I’d never heard of za’atar, but it was clear from my first peruse through Alison’s work that she absolutely loves it. It’s a Middle Eastern spice blend that’s everywhere in her recipes. At the beginning of each cookbook is a pantry list of her essential kitchen items and ingredients that she always has in stock, and za’atar made it on the list. 

Side note: I love when chefs do this because it teaches me about what they think is essential to everyday cooking success, and what isn’t. 

Alison’s za’atar description lets you know that you can buy a za’atar spice blend at the grocery store, but of course it’s even better when you make your own fresh version. The only ingredients are toasted sesame seeds, thyme, sumac, and salt. The most exciting part of her ode to this spice is her description of the salt and sumac combination: “a sort of salty/sour dream team.” I am SO there. 

On my weekly Trader Joes run, I noticed they carry a za’atar spice blend. I was tempted to buy that instead, but sumac was missing from the ingredients list. If Alison is telling me that the best za’atar is made of only four ingredients, and one of those isn’t in this spice blend, then I guess I’m out. Thyme, sesame seeds and salt I have, but sumac? I went to Trader Joes, Whole Foods, and Cub, and couldn’t find it. My mother-in-law heard about my sumac woes and called a number of middle eastern grocery stores in the Minneapolis-St.Paul area. One of them carried it - Holy Land on Central Ave. For $4 I purchased enough sumac to hopefully last me the entire cookbook, and then some. (In case you’re also wondering, sumac is a dark red colored spice made from dried and ground berries that grow on sumac flowers. It’s known for its acidic, sour quality. Some blogs say you can substitute it with lemon zest.) 

The assembly of this dish takes no time at all. It just calls for sauteing the radishes and garlic in oil until the outsides of the radishes are nice and tender (the insides stay harder and retain some of their notorious kick). Once they’re tender, swirl in the butter until melted, pour in a dash of white vinegar and top with the za’atar and more salt. Because I’m a sucker for an extra crunch, I threw in some toasted thinly sliced almonds as well. 

The buttery, salty, sour flavors pair really well with the softened radishes and make for a stellar side dish. Beyond the flavors, the color of the dish is appealing too, and the ingredients are unexpected, making this a crowd pleaser. Have you ever been served a bowl of radishes at a dinner party before? You will if you come over to my apartment for dinner, because this quick-to-make, unexpected and simple side dish is now in my regular rotation for hosting. It should be in yours, too.

2 recipes cooked, 223 recipes to go.

Butter-Tossed Radishes with Fresh Za’atar and One-Pot Chicken with Lemon, Shallots and Dates by Alison Roman.