Goodness, Gracious, Great Balls of Goat Cheese

Blog Party #13 is here and the theme was more than challenging. No oven, or stove top or any cooking of any kind. Sounds easy till you start really thinking about it. Want to make chicken salad, after all that is not hot, but wait…you have to cook the chicken. So I went to my mound of cookbooks and dragged out Martha Stewarts Hors D’Oeuvres Handbook, surely there was something there that didn’t need to be cooked. There were tons of non-cook recipes, but thumbing through all the photographs I ran across a beautiful picture of little balls of goat cheese on a plate of olive oil. How lovely I thought. Though I feel it was more than ambitious for me to try(quite the pain to do and photograph) it was something I wanted to try. So there I stood rolling out little balls of cheese, rolling them in various herbs and trying somewhat successfully to roll them in a line of smoked paprika.
My drink is a Green Tea Collins simply because I love green tea. I have it everyday. So when I found a recipe that involved green tea and vodka, that sounded good to me.

Herbed and Spiced Goat Cheese Balls
Adapted recipe
Makes 3 1/2 Dozen

1 1/4 pounds soft goat cheese
2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
You can use pretty much any herbs or spices you want. I used the following:
1 1/4 TBSP chopped fresh chives
2 TBSP chopped pistachio nuts
1 1/2 TBSP fresh thyme
2 tsp smoked paprika

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Form 1 tablespoon of goat cheese into a small ball. Transfer to the baking sheet. Continue with the remaining cheese. Refrigerate the balls for 10 minutes to set slightly.
2. In seperate small bowls, place your herbs/spices. Roll the balls in the desired coating. To make the paprika band, sprinkle the paprika in a straight line on a cutting board. Straighten the edge of the paprika with a knife. Roll the ball down the line to form the paprika strip.
3. Pour olive oil onto a serving platter. Arragne the goat cheese balls on the platter and serve with toothpicks on the side.
Source: Martha Stewart Hors D’Oeuvres Handbook by Martha Stewart

Green Tea Collins
2 ounces vodka
2 ounces strong green tea, cooled
1 ounce fresh lemon juice
1 tsp simple syrup
1/4 tsp grated fresh ginger
lemon wheel for garnish
Place the vodka, green tea, lemon juice, simple syrup, grated ginger, and plenty of cracked ice in a shaker, and shake vigorously to combine. Strain thoroughly into a Collins glass(we don’t have any so I went with a pint glass) filled with ice. Garnish with a wheel of lemon and serve.
Source: Cocktail Parties with a Twist by Alexandra and Eliot Angle