Spicy spread

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A touch of heat to ward off the chill.

When I’ve got fresh goat cheese that needs to be used up, one of my favorites is a cherve spread spiked with a Vietnamese chile sauce called Sriracha. (It’s the bottle with the rooster on it that you might see on the table at 99 Fast Food or other Viet joints - available at Hoowa and Asian places everywhere.)

It’s so simple you can’t even call it “cooking.” Put crumbled goat cheese in a bowl and add about one-quarter its volume in mayonnaise. Microwave it for a few seconds until the cheese softens, and whip it together. Add a dose of Sriracha or other chile sauce - even Frank’s Hot Sauce would work - and keep mixing till uniform. If you’re not sure how much heat you want, just add a little at a time and taste as you go.

Roasted tomatoes, foreground, play well with goat cheese

On toast, crostini or baguette, it makes a fine platform for any rustic toppings you have at hand, or lurking in the fridge. In this case, it’s roasted grape tomatoes with garlic, and sauteed onions, mushrooms and green bell peppers.

Or, you could just try to think of some fancy-schmanzy recipe to use that goat cheese in, until you have to throw it away.

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