Tasty Salad: Spinach and Cherry Salad w/ warm almond crusted goat cheese medallions in a light dijon vinaigrette

You can do so many things with a salad. This one turned out pretty well, so I thought I would share it.

What I had on hand that needed to be used:

• 1 log of goat cheese (chevre), which was about to expire
• about a half pound of cherries
• 2 chuck steaks

So what I made:

Baked Goat Cheese Medallions: I cut the Chevre into 8 equal slices. I dipped each into an egg wash (one beaten egg with a splash of water), and then placed the cheese into a bowl of toasted almond slices. I used my fingers to make sure each piece was fully topped with almonds. I then placed these in a baking pan (which I lined with parchment paper for easy clean-up). These I baked for about ten minutes at 400 degrees.

I washed and pitted the cherries. A little trick I've found is to use the cherry pitter right down in the colander. The pits stay put for easy disposal, and MOST of the juice shoots into the colader. But don't wear your favorite white shirt for this task anyway.

Meanwhile, I started the grill and seasoned the steaks. I grilled them on high heat, about 2.5 minutes per side.

To make a simple vinaigrette I used whole grain mustard, walnut oil (happened to have it on hand), and rice wine vinegar. I mixed this into washed spinach leaves, and sprinkled in salt and pepper. Then I mixed in the cherries.

Assembly: scoop spinach/cherry mixture into a bowl. Top with two medallions of warm goat cheese and bite sized pieces of steak!