I’ve been on a ‘salad kick’ recently and thought I’d post a salad marathon called ‘5 Salads in 5 Days’ – consecutive days, that is. Don’t know exactly why I’ve got this sudden burst of energy: maybe it’s to lift myself out of my comfortable, over-sized chair.
As I’m busy making all of these salads, the phrase “salad days” keeps on entering my mind – a phrase meaning the green, inexperienced days of our youth. What was I doing in my “salad days” ? A few faded images enter my mind – perhaps some tear gas and student demonstrations in the 1960’s held on California university campuses or watching the trial of Charles Manson and his followers being played out on the nightly news. And you, dear reader, what were you doing in your “salad days”?
The dish ‘Warm Goat’s Cheese Salad’ is frequently found on menus in French restaurants and features the absolutely delicious St. Maure cheese. This goat’s milk cheese comes from the Loire Valley in France and is named after the town of Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine. It comes in the shape of a small log and is soft and white, under a greyish rind. If you can’t find St. Maure cheese, then you can use some other soft, goat’s milk cheese.
St. Maure goat’s milk cheese, made in the Loire Valley, France
To make this Warm Goat’s Milk Salad, you first place a slice of the cheese on a small piece of baguette that has been covered with olive oil and some dried oregano. The whole thing is then wrapped in a piece of pancetta or Serrano ham and then placed in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese melts.
Place the baguette’s around a mound of salad that has been dressed in a yummy vinaigrette, add a few thin slices of ripe pear, sprinkle with a few chopped walnuts and Voilà, you have your Warm Goat’s Cheese Salad.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post, where I’ll reveal my second salad of the series!
Warm Goat’s Cheese Salad with Pears and Walnuts
A salad surrounded by slices of delicious warm goat’s cheese, wrapped in pancetta or Serrano ham, and served with sliced pears and chopped walnuts.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 4 mins
- Total Time: 19 mins
- Yield: 2 - 3 1x
- Category: Appetiser
- Cuisine: French
Ingredients
- Salad Greens (mixture of lettuce, endive, baby spinach, beet root greens, etc)
- St Maure Goat’s Cheese
- Thin baguette slices
- Pancetta or Serrano Jamon, finely sliced
- Vinaigrette
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 6 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
- 1 tsp honey
- Salt/pepper to taste
- Garnish
- Chopped walnuts
- Thin pear slices
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 200 C (broiler function).
- Combine salad greens in a large bowl – enough to serve 2 – 3 people.
- Make the vinaigrette- mix olive oil, white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey and salt and pepper. Add the vinaigrette to the greens.
- Slice thin pieces of the baguette, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with a little oregano. Place a thin piece of St Maure goat’s cheese on each piece of baguette. Wrap a thin piece of either pancetta or Serrano ham around each baguette and brush with some more olive oil. Toast under the oven broiler for 4 minutes maximum until cheese melts.
- Serve salad in middle of plate and arrange 4 -5 baguette pieces around the salad. Sprinkle some chopped walnuts around the salad and top with some pear slices.
7 Comments
Colleen
February 25, 2014 at 2:02 pmYes I like the salad but my new diet doesn’t allow bread ,I’m thinking of my salad days too in the 60s at uni going in adelaide uni demos along king William st chanting stop the war meaning the Vietnam war , also memories of being in young Labour Party and delivering how to vote cards around pt adelaide for the party,studying hard in the narrsmith lib, going to plays and talks at Union hall,, doing practice teaching and playing table tennis and chess for the teachers college
What a life and what innocent timbers they were !,,,,,,
★★★
Fran
February 26, 2014 at 7:15 amSounds like you had quite a full life, Colleen!
GourmetGetaways
February 25, 2014 at 8:33 pmOh that goats cheese looks really special!!! I can almost taste it! What a delicious looking salad!!
★★★★★
Fran
February 26, 2014 at 7:17 amThanks for the comment, Julie. Yes, this salad has become one of my favorites- very rich and full taste!
Daniela
February 26, 2014 at 11:35 pmThe combination of goat cheese , jamón serrano and pears with salad is culinary heaven!
A light and elegant recipe.
John@Kitchen Riffs
February 27, 2014 at 5:05 amOh, I’m so going to like this series! You’ve started off with a great salad — can’t wait to see what the next one is!
Anneli Faiers
February 28, 2014 at 7:03 pmGoats cheese salad is one of my very favourite things. I make it very often. Yours looks lovely with the pears and I love the way you have wrapped ham around the goats cheese toasts. I am stealing all these ideas as yours looks so very ‘bistro chic’ x