Recipe: Grilled Goats Cheese With Preserved Vegetables by Justin Ashton

Justin Ashton and his wife Miki run The Lime Tree Restaurant in Penzance (Cornwall, UK). It’s one of my favourite restaurants. It’s not vegetarian but there’s always an impeccably presented and wonderfully tasting vegetarian dish on the menu. I’m delighted to be able to include one of their fabulous recipes on our web site.

The preserve is enough for about 15 portions but it will last for ages in a fridge

Ingredients:

1 aubergine/egg plant
1 bay leaf
small bunch of thyme
6 sticks of celery
4 courgettes
1 teaspoon of fennel seeds
1 shallot
1 clove of garlic
1 red pepper (bell pepper)
1 yellow pepper (bell pepper)
0.5 pints [0.28 litres or 0.6 US pints] of virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons of sugar
4 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper
individual goats cheese   

Method:

Thinly slice all the vegetables and fry in the virgin olive oil in small quantities till softened.
Remove the vegetables from the oil.
Dissolve the sugar in the rice vinegar over a low heat, and add the lemon juice
Mix through the vegetables and season with salt and pepper.
Cover the vegetables with the remains of the cooking oil.
Allow to cool.   This can be served when cool or will keep in the fridge for a long time.

Remove the top from the goats cheese and sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme.
Grill until a golden colour on the top.
Serve with the preserved vegetables. A sliced beetroot, fennel and watercress salad works well with this.