Hani and Friends
Last week, my friend Vija and I spent time in Miami together celebrating her ‘sabbatical’, as she calls it, from a lifelong career in broadcast news. She is studying the culinary arts and looking to transition to a second career, so I thought it would be great fun to throw a party for some of my newfound ‘foodie’ friends who live in Miami.
We invited Hani and his wife Mary Lee, he is goat farmer who avidly reads my blog, and facebook friend, Annika who is an online entrepreneur, and my friend Donna, who is just finishing her studies to become a nutrition counselor.
Vija Prepares the Cobb Salads
Vija prepared a lovely Tropical Cobb Salad with ingredients sourced from the Whole Foods store near Lincoln Road. Mango, roasted chicken, avocado, turkey bacon, chopped egg, chopped red onion, topped mixed greens and the salad was then dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. She also made a festive wine spritzer with mango, white wine and seltzer water.
Hani contributed a tasting of his goat cheeses:
Heirloom Shankleesh, which is a traditional Lebanese goat cheese with herbs like thyme, sumac, chili and cayenne, which has been aged for 3 weeks. This cheese is semi hard and brown in color, and none of us had ever tasted anything like it in our lives. It was delightfully herby and earthy.
Annika and Donna
The other cheeses were, Goat ricotta, Fromage blanc (day young goat cheese, as fresh as you can get!) and Labneh, which is a creamy goat cheese, and as thick as yogurt. I think this one was my favorite, although I loved them all. Apparently, the American Cheese Association chose a Labneh cheese as Best Farmstead Cheese of 2009.
Hani’s cheeses are from Nubian goats, which as he explained have a wonderful quality butterfat content. The freshness of his cheeses, accounts for their lack of “goaty” flavor. Hani brought with him copies of the Spring 2010 issue of Edible South Florida for each of my guests, his goat farm was the cover story. His goats have great names, which Mary Lee rattled off to us, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Maria, Gretl, Cleopatra.
Strawberry Dipped in Fromage Blanc
Vija’s favorite cheese was the Fromage Blanc which she added to the Cobb Salad. She said, “I sure would love to use Hani’s fresh cheese in all my cobb salads, it was a lovely addition.”
For dessert we had organic strawberries dipped in the goat cheese. The simply perfect way to end a wonderful luncheon.
Visit Hani’s website, Hani’s Mediterranean Organics.
Tropical Cobb Salad Luncheon
"Eat lower from the food chain. Enjoy grass-fed meat, dairy, eggs and poultry."
