Michael Chiarello?s Tomato with Warm Goat Cheese and Herb Salad

After meeting Michael Chiarello and his adorable wife Eileen in Aspen, and attending his Farm to Fork talk, my pre existing respect for him has quadrupled.   Not only is he dedicated to local, sustainable food, but he is one of the more down to earth, real, caring celebrity chefs I’ve ever met.  My partners in crime, Danny from Foodie Aspen, Chef John from Food Wishes,  Average Betty, and Jen from Daily Blender and I all had a chance to chat with him while sipping cocktails at  the Best New Chefs Dinner at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.  “What did you think of our talk?”  he asked me, and “what else did you do today,  how were the other demos?”   Similar to chatting with a family member, he really wanted to hear about my day,  I loved that.     Last night while watching Top Chef Masters, I was very torn between rooting for local Boulder chef Lachlan Patterson from Frasca and Michael, it was a tough call!

No spoilers here in case you haven’t caught up, but here is a simple appetizer or vegetarian main dish from Michael Chiarello, a delicious tomato and warm goat cheese recipe served with an herbed salad.   The written recipe may be viewed here, enjoy!

More from Michael: Care to whip up Chef Chiarellos fast food Fish Balls, Shaved Brussels Sprouts and Asparagus Salad, or Goat Milk Basil Gelato with Balsamic Strawberries as seen on the show? Bravo just posted these today!

var flashvars = {
mute: 'false',
file: 'http://www.savory.tv/wp-content/plugins/proplayer/playlist-controller.php?id=3629-0&sid=1249767323',
enablejs: 'true',
javascriptid: '3629-0',
backcolor: '111111',
frontcolor: 'cccccc',
lightcolor: '66cc00',
skin: 'http://www.savory.tv/wp-content/plugins/proplayer/players/skins/default.swf',
stretching: 'uniform',
repeat: 'false',
autostart: 'false'
};

var params = {
wmode: 'transparent',
allowfullscreen: 'true',
allowscriptaccess: 'always',
allownetworking: 'all'
};

var attributes = {
id: 'obj-pro-player-3629-0',
name: 'obj-pro-player-3629-0'
};

swfobject.embedSWF('http://www.savory.tv/wp-content/plugins/proplayer/players/player.swf', 'pro-player-3629-0', '550', '353', '9.0.0', false, flashvars, params, attributes);