Salad with Fried Goat Cheese

My idea for this salad came from wanting to put all the toppings of a salad INSIDE a fried ball of goat cheese. 🙂 So I did it! This has dried cranberries and pecans inside the ball of cheese and its quite delectable. I mean, anything fried can’t be that bad, right? And if you want you could make these a little smaller and and put a toothpick in them for a tasty appetizer. OR you could just take the goat cheese mixture and put it out at a party for your guests to spread over a cracker etc. So many options…. 🙂

Salad with Fried Goat Cheese

11 oz Goat Cheese

¼ cup dried organic cranberries

¼ cup chopped toasted pecans

1 cup dried bread crumbs

1 egg beaten

Vegetable Oil (to cover 2 inches high in pot)

Spring Mix

Vinaigrette: 

⅓ Organic Oil Oil

1/3 Champagne Vinegar

1 Cloves Garlic Minced

Juice ½ Lemon

4 tsp sugar

¼ tsp mustard

¼ tsp fresh oregano

⅔ cup sour cream

In a food processor fitted with a blade pulse goat cheese with cranberries and pecans until combined (but don’t over blend )and scrape down sides as necessary. Using 1 rounded teaspoon of cheese for each, form the cheese into 18 (1-inch) balls. Working in batches, coat the balls with the egg then with the bread crumbs. Repeat coating the balls in the egg and bread crumbs. Arrange the balls on a small baking sheet. Cover and refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours or overnight.

For the dressing, pulse all ingredients in food processor until blended. Refrigerate mixture in serving vessel of your choosing.

Add enough oil to a heavy small saucepan to come 2 inches up the sides of the pan. Heat the oil over medium heat. At this point, remove the refrigerated Goat Cheese balls from the refrigerator. Working in batches, add the cold balls to the hot oil and fry just until golden brown, about 20 seconds. (It is essential that the Goat Cheese balls be cold when they go into the oil, otherwise they will fall apart in the oil. If they start to warm up at any point, return them to the refrigerator to firm back up.) Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fried balls to paper towels to drain.

Place spring mix in a salad bowl. Place Goat Cheese balls on top and drizzle with vinaigrette. Enjoy!