Tasia’s Table. Tasia Malakasis
dishes, from breakfast to dessert.
You can also feel very good about using it in various ways because of its unbelievable health benefits. Goat cheese is lower in fat and calories than cow’s milk cheeses, higher in protein, lower in lactose, and actually supports a healthy digestive system. And if that wasn’t enough, goat’s milk is said to be good for your skin, hair, and even libido! Armed with all of that great information, I see very little reason for you not to enjoy it every day in more of your favorite dishes.
Here are few ways that I use it and substitute for the old stand-bys that call for:
1. Mayonnaise— Try a BLT with a delicious goat cheese spread on your bread instead of mayo. I use it on rustic French bread for my leftover Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches.
2. Sour Cream
3. Cream Cheese— My favorite shrimp dip now has goat cheese as its base instead of cream cheese. Add a healthy twist to cream cheese with pepper jelly dip by using goat cheese instead. Want a truly delicious cheesecake? You get the idea.
4. Butter— Crumble goat cheese on your favorite steamed veggies instead of butter; add a little lemon zest to it to make it even more special. Love a compound butter on top of grilled meats? Make herbed compound “butters” with goat cheese instead.
5. Make whipped cream by using half the amount of cream with goat cheese for a gourmet twist.
6. Spread goat cheese on your bagel with smoked salmon, capers, and red onion.
7. Use goat cheese in your icing for a favorite cake or cupcake.
Breakfast
I love beginnings. Beginnings are full of promise and a kind of energy that is hard to replicate. It is important to think of how, before you begin, you wish the end to look, to feel— and for us in the kitchen, to smell. The beginning of the day or the beginning of a meal is a sacred time and should be honored, even in small ways.
Breakfast is my favorite meal and one in which there is an infinite amount of creative room to play with traditional ingredients. I like to give the morning its due with a meal— a real meal. More often than not, what was enjoyed at the dinner table the night before finds itself reinvented at the breakfast table— the asparagus is now in my frittata, the potatoes and pork loin have been turned into a hash, chile verde is topped with a fried egg on a tortilla with chopped onion and cilantro. It is like being handed a palette of colors and you get to make a painting— even better, since the painting is edible, no?
I encourage you to sit down at the table and begin your day with good tastes and wonderful sustenance. I love breakfast so much so that if given my choice of any restaurant, it would most certainly be one known for its breakfasts. While I was in culinary school in New York, breakfast was the meal I did not miss— no matter how tired I was. All of the culinary students had to do a stint working in the breakfast restaurant. The breakfasts were nothing short of phenomenal and anything but standard. However, we had to report to work at 3 A.M. to start the prep for opening at 7 A.M. I was cured of wanting a breakfast restaurant after that experience, but not cured of seeking an incredible beginning meal.
Even though breakfast is my favorite meal, and even though I am armed with the knowledge that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, it is still tempting to hit the snooze button and skip or skimp on this meal. Nevertheless, my son and I sit down together at the breakfast table every morning— despite the sometimes hectic pace with which the school and workday may start— say our Three Things, and enjoy a good breakfast. I have vowed to not eat my breakfast on the run, in the car, or away from the smooth, worn edges of a table.
Weekends present another opportunity, however. On the weekends we linger over the breakfast table. I once started a breakfast club for the early rising neighborhood children who couldn’t wait to start their Saturdays by knocking on my door at seven o’clock in the morning. We would invite them in and share our breakfast traditions— frittatas and eggs-in-a-nest and such. It grew into a “Are we having Breakfast Club this weekend, Ms. Tasia?” I really loved the sound of that question! Even better was when the gaggle of children scattered outside, leaving the leisurely weekend breakfast table still surrounded by the parents, an event often spanning all the way past noon. I am always pleased when just another pot of coffee is being made and conversations last until eventually someone asks, “What’s for lunch?”
French Press Coffee with Steamed Milk
I have experimented quite a bit with different methods of brewing coffee. And spent quite a lot of money along the way. It seems indicative of my style to have to try everything but to eventually come round to champion the simplest method out there. This would be a twelve-ounce French Press, sometimes called a “press pot.” If you have never had coffee made in a French Press, I encourage you strongly to try it. It couldn’t be simpler, and frankly I believe it couldn’t be better. Café au lait is the French version of coffee with lots of milk, fifty-fifty coffee to milk. The milk is steamed or warmed. I no longer have any fancy coffee equipment in my kitchen, so I just gently heat my milk on the stove and boil my coffee water in an old teakettle that lives on my stove.
Serves 6
3 rounded tablespoons coarse-grind coffee
12 ounces boiling water
12 ounces warmed milk
Scoop 3 tablespoons of ground coffee into the bottom of the French Press. Slowly pour in the boiling water. Stir well with a wooden spoon. Put top of press on the container and let coffee steep for 3–4 minutes. Plunge slowly. Pour coffee into huge coffee “bowls” halfway and then fill with warm milk. Sweeten as desired.
Fresh-Squeezed Orange Juice
When I am in Greece and staying with my sisters at my stepmother Dina’s house, the day always begins with a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice. It is indescribably delicious.
I know that most of us won’t take the time to do this every day, but for certain occasions it is absolutely worth it. A simple juicer makes it oh so easy.
There is an endless variety of presses and juicers on the market, and some of them are quite expensive. A very simple plastic one with a strainer to catch the seeds on the sides can work just fine. I have a rather War of the Worlds-looking one that I leave on the counter at all times, just in case the mood strikes.
Serves 1
4 large oranges
Per person, you need about four large oranges, cut in half.
Squeeze juice with your press or manual juicer directly into a glass. Enjoy!
Hot Cocoa
I don’t know of a single child who doesn’t love hot cocoa on a cold morning. For that matter, I don’t know many adults who would turn down that offer. As a matter of fact, and I promise I am telling the truth, my son had hot chocolate with his breakfast this very morning. Pre-made mixes are certainly accommodating but I know you will find them lacking in comparison to this easy-to-create recipe. A little tip for the coffee drinkers: after amply handing this out to children, I sometimes spoon the remaining cocoa from this recipe into my coffee cup instead of steamed milk.
Serves 2
3 cups whole milk
1 cup half-and-half
¼ cup good quality Dutch-process cocoa powder
½ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼