Recipe: Goats’ Cheese & Rocket Hummus

Brands and Twitter do not always make for compatible bed fellows, it is easy to be too corporate, too boring, too sales focussed all of which will rapidly turn people off.  Had the famous Shippam’s Paste account not been an experiment, it would have been marketing genius. But one who does gets it right is Capricorn Goats’ Cheese, where @EthelTheGoat tweets (#bleats?)  It is not an easy one to get right, but Ethel makes me smile, the tone, engagement and amusement are spot on.   Of course I  know that Ethel and the other four goats on the Capricorn blog are happily down on the farm in Somerset, but the more fanciful side to my imagination enjoys my chats with a goat.

Ethel challenged a gang of food bloggers to come up with some recipes using Capricorn goats cheese.  I receive many similar approaches, and often turn them down.  But because I like Capricorn and am often in Somerset, so I know how fantastic the produce is, and because the approach made me smile, I said yes.  A hamper of fantastic ingredients duly arrived.

I have lots and lots of ideas for goaty Capricorn recipes.  The first is a very simple goats’ cheese hummus, super speedy bung-it-all-in-the-food-processor-and-whizz.     The goats’ cheese flavour is initially subtle, but slowly builds.  Peppery rocket leaves add a little bite and interest.  It is perfect for either under or over ripe Capricorn too.  Serve with lots of crudities for a healthy appetiser with pre supper drinks, leftovers make a good sandwich filling, although I scraped out the bowl with my finger.

You could make it with ready made hummus and just whizz with the cheese and rocket.  I can think of substitutions glore here – instead of the rocket try coriander, spring onions or roasted red peppers.   If you do not have tahini add some extra olive oil or sesame oil.

Recipe: Goats’ Cheese and Rocket Hummus

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 can chickpeas  – drained and rinsed
Juice half a lemon
1 clove of garlic
1/2 Capricorn Goats’ Cheese
1 tsp tahini
1 tbs good olive oil
Handful rocket leaves
Pepper and Salt to taste

Simply bung all the ingredients into the food processor and whizz, or into a pot and use a stick blender to mix.

Serve with crudities and strips of pitta bread.

I would have liked to have asked Ethel round to sample some, but feared she might not like central London or a flat on the top floor with no outside space – and come to think about it, do goats actually consume goats’ milk?

Many thanks to Capricorn for inviting me to take part in the challenge and for the ingredients. 

I received a hamper of ingredients, and was asked to create some recipes.   The creator of Ethel’s favourite recipe will win a night in a Somerset hotel.