One of the worst things about pregnancy is that looong list of things you can and can’t eat and the grey area that surrounds whether or not you can eat so many different types of food. For every happy barbecue eating preggo (me) there will be another espousing the dangers of eating meat cooked outside on a gas grill. Ditto shellfish, sushi, wine (a small amount obviously) and varying types of cheese. Where do you draw the line and just have a taste of Stilton with your friday night thimble of red wine?
I tend to be a member of the ‘whatever feels right’ club and eat, well, whatever feels right. I’m eating prawns but no mussels (woe!). After heavily researching laws on Sushi preparation in the UK prior to a visit to Nobu when I was 14 weeks pregnant with Elfie I will eat that too (but will stick to cooked options mostly). I will have a glass of wine once a week if I am having a special dinner and yes, I had a taste of Stilton at Christmas and it was diviiine.
By the way, no matter how hard you try, nothing will prevent you from catching Norovirus as I did when I was pregnant with Elfie. Now that was a week of hell and completely unrelated to whatever I was eating at the time. You can most likely blame yucky tube germs for that one.
Anyway, I like to find ways of eating things that would otherwise be ‘forbidden’ during pregnancy; namely cheeses. I’ve eaten deep fried Brie, blue cheese gnocchi, and this – a gorgeous Goat’s Cheese tart. I think it’s a great lunch dish when served with a salad of herby salad leaves, though would also be brilliant for a lighter dinner or even a picnic or as part of a buffet. It’s a dish of convenience that takes minutes to knock up and looks beautiful when it comes out of the oven.
- Half a pack of ready-rolled puff pastry
- About 75g Goat's Cheese in a roll
- 1 red onion
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- A few sprigs fresh Thyme
- 1 tbsp milk
- Start by making the caramelised onion filling: half and slice the onion and put in a small saucepan on a low-medium heat with the butter.
- Add the sugar and cook until soft and sticky, about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, lay out your puff pastry on a baking tray and score a line about a centimetre away from the edge.
- Finely slice the goats cheese into rounds. When the onion is caramelised, spread evenly on the pastry. Add the rounds of cheese then sprinkle your sprigs of thyme on top.
- Season and brush the scored area of pastry with milk then cook as per the packet instructions, about 25 minutes at 180 degrees.
So glad to hear you eating some of the forbidden foods! Our local bistro baked me a camembert the other day – it was amazing. I hadn’t really thought about cooking the forbidden cheeses before then. I may make blue cheese gnocchi for dinner tonight. Thanks for the inspiration :)
x
Ohhhh I love a good baked camembert with honey and a ton of french bread… yum x
YUM! That looks amazing.
I have to say, I didn’t really stop eating anything on the forbidden list. I cut back and spritzed my wine, and I don’t like mussels anyway, but everything else I carried right on with.
Listeria, schmisteria!
I’m glad someone else is of the same opinion as me when it comes to food/drink when pregnant. People are so judgemental!! I went round to someone’s house recently, they automatically got Will a beer and then looked at me and said “I’ll get you a nice cup of decaf tea”. Nooo :(
I can’t tell you how excited I am to be able to eat goats cheese and camembert again soon. Arguably nearly as excited as I am about meeting my unborn child ;)
Looking forward to the forbidden foods is brilliant isn’t it! It’s Stilton for me… always Stilton and a huuuuge glass of red wine. Yum.
Jeez louise that looks so nice, I might treat ricky to it, but I can never find puff pastry in manchester city centre, woe
It does really annoy me how few shops sell puff pastry. Tesco metros don’t??! But I think my local co-op does. And there’s no way I’m making it…
I’m so glad you posted this recipe, as soon as you mentioned it on twitter I wanted to eat it. I’ll be making this tomorrow I think.
Great – let me know how it goes! x
I love that you’ve done this recipe! I absolutely adore goats cheese tart and was dubious as to whether to have or not, much the same with the odd glass of vino! I shall now happily partake in goats cheese tart, and admit that I have had a glass of wine with LOTS of ice whilst preggers :)
I had a craving last week for white wine spritzers! Yummmmmm. This tart is delicious and I love that goats cheese is totally safe when cooked x
The sunny weather definitely makes me crave a nice sauvignon!lol. Shall defo give this a try xx
This looks delicious and as we’re rather fond of tarts of all descriptions I think this will be making an appearance at ours soon! I’m afraid I was rather relaxed when I was pregnant, I ate things I was advised not to and still drank coffee, though a limited amount. People can be incredibly judgemental but I think a bit of research and if it’s something you feel happy with then why not!
funnily enough I read this on my phone as my little girl was eating fish fingers for tea!
I also drink coffee (and tea) still though do ration myself and make sure I keep track of how many ‘units’ of caffeine I’m having – you’re right, people are soooo judgemental!
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