Garlic-Rosemary Foccacia and Apple Salad with Hazelnut-Crusted Goat Cheese

Right about this time of year, I start to really miss the bygone Harvest Party. Every fall, around the October moon, my family's group of Michigan friends would organize the party. It was a potluck, always held at the same household, a lovely futon-filled house with a sloping backyard we scattered with toothy carved pumpkins. We kids would play in the backyard while parents (I only now assume) drank wine and didn't pay attention to us.  And we would all eat. It was a chance for everyone to delight in the delicious skills of others, and to offer their own. Most of the kids have grown up (or are in the process of doing so), and have spread across the country, so the party is no longer. Its vestiges are manifested, for me, through an autumn hankering to be in the kitchen. With the leaves turning and the air crisping up, all I want to do is cook. My extreme affinity for fall flavors doesn't help either. Squash and apples--I just love the stuff.



Mushroom-ricotta lasagna

Brown Sugar-Apple Cake

So this weekend was rather a cook-o-rama for me. I spent my entire Saturday in the kitchen, going straight from cooking (and eating) brunch to making dinner. And then I baked a cake on Sunday. I'm happy to supply any recipe pictured. I'm just highlighting two here: a foccacia and spring-mix salad with crisp apples and warm goat cheese coated in hazelnuts.

The foccacia starts with the simple white bread loaf recipe, only it's flecked with rosemary leaves. I kneaded them in before the dough rose. You could sprinkle them on top, but I wanted each bite to impart the fragrant, woodsy flavour. Then I added a good dose of olive oil, sliced garlic and coarse salt before baking. It's straightforward and scrumptious.

Garlic-Rosemary Foccacia

Ingredients:

1 recipe classic white bread loaf dough

1 TBSP dried rosemary leaves, crushed or coarsely chopped (I crushed them by rubbing the dried leaves between my hands)

2 TBSP olive oil

2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

coarse salt

Directions:

--Make bread dough as directed. As you knead the dough smooth, add the rosemary. Continue with recipe, letting rise as normal.

--Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x13 pan or cookie sheet. Pat dough down on pan. Using fingertips, press dimples into top of dough.

--Sprinkle olive oil, garlic and a few pinches of coarse salt over dough. Bake 20 minutes or until garlic is browned and foccacia feels hollow when tapped.

The salad is a really quick meal (and pairs nicely with the above foccacia). Sliced apples add an autumny note to a classic pepper-spring mix salad. The goat cheese receives a coating of chopped hazelnuts and is popped in the oven for a couple minutes, to become extra creamy and provide a contrast to the crunch of the nuts and apples.

Apple Salad with Hazelnut-Crusted Goat Cheese

Ingredients:

4 cups salad greens (I used a spring mix)

1 red bell pepper, sliced

2 tomatoes, chopped

2 apples, chopped into 1-inch squares

8-oz goat cheese, sliced into 9 rounds

1/4 cup hazelnuts, chopped

Dressing of your choice (I went for balsamic)

Directions:

--Mix greens, pepper, tomatoes and apples together in a large bowl. Add dressing and toss gently.

--Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8 pan with parchment Place hazelnuts in a saucer. Gently roll sides of cheese in hazelnuts to form a coating. Place in pan. Repeat with 8 other rounds of cheese. Bake for 5 minutes, until cheese begins to soften and spread.

--Remove from oven. With a small spatula, place on top of salad greens.