| |
By
Kimberley Lovato
As much as I love to
dabble in the tasting menus of just about any restaurant, every now and
then, I crave the simplicity of that ubiquitous French salad: La Salade
de Chèvre Chaud---Warm Goat Cheese Salad. It is one of the simplest
yet most pleasing of lunch-time (and even dinner) treats for me when I
travel in France. On a recent trip to Vaison-La-Romaine, a beautiful paradise
in the northern part of Provence, my daughter and I stopped into a café
on the main square because I had eyeballed a delicious version. Green
buttery lettuce with four rounds of goat cheese wrapped up in filo pastry,
like little gourmet gifts, just for me! Sprinkled with pine nuts and drizzled
with the typical French mustard vinaigrette, and then decorated with swirls
of what looked like Sirop Liegois (from Liege, in Belgium)--the dark brown,
thick syrup made from fruit.
Of course I see everything first through Belgian eyes, and I think
the sticky plate art was actually thick balsamic vinegar. All I know,
this salad looked divine. My daughter swears she saw goat cheese wheels
spinning in my eyes. Could very well be. Needless to say, it lived up
to my expectations. If I weren't afraid of filo pastry, I would have recreated
this one at home. Long story...let's just say after spending a day together,
filo and I agree to disagree.
The goat cheese salad shows up on almost every café and
brasserie menu in France, from Paris to Provence. It is so popular with
locals and visitors; I am always surprised not to see in on menus abroad,
especially in the States where salads are the meal of choice for ladies
who lunch.
And for such a simple salad, the variations on it are numerous. Sometimes
the goat cheese is toasted on squares of bread and laid on the salad.
Sometimes, just the white soft rounds are there to pluck up with
the lettuce and vinaigrette. Think of them like giant goat-cheesy croutons.
Sometimes there is a sticky honey elixir broiled on the cheese rounds,
and I have also seen the goat cheese breaded. Not a fan. I personally
like the salad with the flavour of walnuts added. The texture and the
woody bitterness of the walnuts combine well with the velvety goat cheese.
Pine nuts work too. An occasional tomato makes an appearance, but often
in wedges, on the side of the plate, rather than mixed in. No offense
to the succulent fruit, but I prefer the tomatoes left off completely.
There is really no point in them on this salad...they are the ugly step
sisters of the beautiful goat cheese rounds. Sometimes restaurants get
fancy with the lettuce, mixing in red cabbage, or small leaves of rocket
or spinach. A friend of mine's daughter said of the fancy salad leaves,
"they taste like yard work". Out of the mouths of babes. In
this case, I have to agree. The simple crispness of butter leaf lettuce
is the best, in my opinion.
As a delicious first course or a main meal, the goat cheese salad
is not to be overlooked. And don't dare call it girly, just because it's
a salad! At any brasserie worth its salt, you'll be hard pressed to finish
an entire serving...unless you're me of course, then you'll mow down a
head of lettuce and four filo-wrapped rounds in no time! I did have to
skip dinner, I admit, but it was worth it. And even detesters of stinky
French cheese will find it hard not to love this salad. My husband, a
detester of most odorous products, (or maybe that it's French, I'll have
to ask) finds it hard to resist a typical Sunday lunch of Salad de Chèvre
Chaud and a glass of white wine.
There is really something to this simple life.
One of my favourite recipes is this one by Gordon Ramsey. He uses walnuts
and walnut oil for the dressing.
Though he doesn't use filo (I can't blame him), nor the French vinaigrette,
this salad is reminiscent of many great meals I have enjoyed.
Ingredients
4 x 70g individual soft goat’s cheeses with rind e.g. Gevrik
Few sprigs of thyme
2 baby gem lettuces, washed
40g lamb’s lettuce, washed
50g walnut halves
4 slices of white bread
Olive oil
Salt
Black pepper
For the vinaigrette
½ lemon, juice only
1 tbsp walnut oil
½ apple, such as Granny Smith or Bramley, grated
Method: How to make warm goat's cheese salad
with apple and walnut vinaigrette
1. Pre heat oven to 200°C/gas 6.
2. Place the goat's cheese on a baking tray. Arrange a walnut half on
top of each cheese. Lightly crush the remaining walnuts with your fingers
and set aside. Drizzle the cheese with olive oil, scatter over the thyme
leaves and season with black pepper.
3. Bake in the oven for 6 minutes, or until the cheese has melted inside
but retained its shape.
4. Shred the baby gems before transferring to a bowl. Add the lamb’s
lettuce and crushed walnuts. Toss to mix
.
5. In a separate bowl mix the lemon juice with approximately 1 tablespoon
of walnut oil and 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Grate in half the apple,
season with salt and pepper and mix to combine.
6. Drizzle a little vinaigrette over the salad and toss together.
7. Toast the bread until golden. When ready, use a cleaned out tin can
or a chef's ring to cut the toast into 4 round croutons.
8. To serve, arrange the dressed walnut salad onto serving plates. Place
the crouton on the salad and top with the goat's cheese. Spoon over the
remaining vinaigrette and serve.
Kimberley Lovato is a freelance
writer based in Brussels, Belgium. Her culinary travel book about the
Dordogne region of France will be released by Running Press in April
2010. www.abroadinbelgium.com
|
