This week's French Garden recipe

People who know me would tell you that it's hard to tell which I like more: gardening or cooking. I'd say it depends on which I'm doing at the moment. Anyway, French cooking and French gardening go hand in hand. For me, cooking is an on-going adventure. Join me here on my culinary explorations, where I share with you both my old favorites as well as new inspirations. It's my fondest wish that these recipes serve as a springboard for your own new creations.

10/31/2002
Fall salad with goat cheese, chestnut honey, and raspberries (Salade d'automne au chèvre, miel de chataîgne, et aux framboises)

Ingredients:

For 4 servings:

3/4-1 lb. delicious fresh goat cheese (better to use local goat cheese than French if you're in the States)
8-10 c. mixed young salad greens, including plenty of arugula and endive frisée, washed and dried.
12 t. chestnut or other strong-flavored honey
A handful of fresh mint leaves, cut into chiffonade
1/2-1 pt. fresh raspberries
Fruity olive oil
Freshly ground Indonesian black pepper, if available.

For the vinaigrette:

1 shallot, minced
2 T. balsamic vinegar
5 T. best olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

A few hours before serving, mash the goat cheese with a fork. Use very clean hands to form it into balls about 1 1/4" in diameter. You should have about 12 disks of cheese (or some other number divisible by 4). Flatten the balls, and use your thumb to form a symmetrical indentation in their centers. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Combine the vinaigrette ingredients.

Just before serving, toss the greens with the vinaigrette and divide among 4 plates. Place an equal number of cheese disks in the center of each plate of greens. Using a teaspoon, fill the wells in the center of each cheese with honey. Sprinkle the mint over them and drizzle with a thread of olive oil. Finish with a sprinkle of freshly ground pepper (use the long-shaped Indonesian black pepper if you can find it for its perfumed aroma. You'll need to grind it in a mortar as it won't go through a pepper mill.) Scatter raspberries on top of the greens and serve immediately.

This elegant salad is easy to make and has a wonderful symphony of complementary flavors: the pungent pepper, the creamy goat cheese, the sweet, strong honey, and the perfumed raspberries contrasting with the bite of slightly bitter greens.

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Products of Interest:
Olive-wood mortar and pestle
Provençal vinaigrier
"Salades"
'Tussil' sous-assiette and transparent plate

Try some of our past French garden recipes:

Appetizers and small dishes

Basics

Beef, pork, lamb, and veal