Salade de Chevre Chaud
"The French only eat salad when it's made of bacon and cheese."
by Erin Henderson
I just read an article about travelling through France. The author, a resident of Paris, wrote his American lunch date opted for a salad, looking for something a little healthier after spending a week in the City of Light.
She was surprised when the plate was loaded with crepes stuffed with oozing cheese.
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The story reminded me of my French cooking course. Our chef-instructor, Jean-Jacques (JJ for short), would always regale us of tales about how a tartiflette is the national dish of French après ski because it "sucks up all the booze," and how the French don't eat salad unless there's cheese and bacon.
Consider this Exhibit A. Salade de Chevre Chaud, or, warm French goat cheese salad, is a classic bistro dish where sturdy greens serve as the bedrock for garlicy toasts topped with melting, semi-aged chevre. There are traditionally a few tomatoes thrown in for looks, but really this salad, is not what one might call eating light.
Still it's delicious.
Salade de Chevre Chaud
There's a semi-new trend to coating coat cheese pucks in breadcrumbs and baking them. However, I keep to la tradition with a garlicky toast broiled with crumbly goat cheese. Where I break from tradition, however, is the red vegetable. Tomato is the classic addition, however, I prefer the sharp bite of radish.
Makes: roughly 4 side salads or 2 main salads (depending on hunger and what else is being served)
Chef level: easy
Ingredients:
- 200 grams bacon, cut into thick strips or lardons
- 4 Tbsp shallots, finely chopped
- 2lb mixed, sturdy lettuce (eg radicchio, frisée, endive, romaine), well washed and dried
- 1 baguette cut into slices
- 1 clove garlic
- 200 grams aged goat cheese, sliced (eg Sainte Maure, Buchette, Palet)
- 6 red radishes, cut into slices
- 10ml dry white wine
- 10ml sherry vinegar
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 20ml olive oil
- 20 grams toasted walnuts, roughly chopped
- 20 grams cornichons
How to Make It:
- Heat the oven to 350°F
- In a frying pan over medium-low heat, add the lardons and gently fry until the fat has rendered. Drain the fat and reserve.
- Increase the heat to medium high, and continue to cook the bacon until crispy. Add the shallots and quickly cook until translucent but still firm, about a minute. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Brush the baguette slices with the bacon fat and place in the oven to gently toast, about 5 minutes, keeping watch.
- Remove the toasted baguette, rub each slice with the garlic clove and top with the goat cheese. Return the baguette to the oven and continue to bake until the cheese is golden brown, about 5-10 minutes keeping an eye.
- Meanwhile, return the bacon/shallot mixture to high heat. Once sizzling, deglaze the pan with the wine, scraping up anything stuck on the bottom, and add the vinegar, and season gently with salt and pepper (knowing the bacon and the cheese are already salty.) Remove from the heat. Stir in the olive oil.
- Arrange the lettuce and radishes in a bowl. Pour the warm vinaigrette over the salad and toss.
- Spoon the salad on plates and top each salad with the goat cheese baguettes.
Wine Pairing
Chef JJ recommends a cold glass of Chablis, a crisp and bright unoaked Chardonnay from Burgundy, which would be quite nice.
However, this is one of the rare cases where salad can handle red wine, so let's have a little fun and serve the unexpected. The smoky lardon, the heft of the bitter lettuce and walnuts as well as the mellow vinaigrette all works beautifully with Pinot Noir. Pinot's bright, cherry acidity compliments the dressing, while the wine's earthy flavours of beet root, smoke, and black pepper, balance the salad and cheese.
