Salade de Chèvre Chaud Sur Toast (Warm Goat Cheese Salad)

This is another of the delightful warm French salad recipes that can be served both as a starter or full meal for lunch or dinner.

Chèvre is simply the French word for goat. Cheeses made from goat milk are extremely common in many places in the world: the Balkans, Greece, Italy, Spain as well as France. In France, there is a tremendous variety of goat cheeses. While many people of goat cheese as a light, soft and crumbly cheese for salads, there are semi-soft kinds that taste like jack cheese, as well as hard varieties that taste like gouda or parmesan.

The important trick for this recipe is choosing the goat cheese. The consistency has to be creamy, so that the cheese begins to melt when broiled.

Ingredients:

• 4 individual soft, creamy goat cheeses
• 4 slices of crusty baguette or white farmhouse bread
• 10 large lettuce leaves
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• salt & pepper

Preparation:

1. Wash and dry the lettuce. On a cutting board, roll a few leaves together and cut into thin strips. Arrange them on individual plates or bowls.
2. Preheat broiler oven.
3. Place one piece of goat cheese on each slice of bread. Place the toast and cheese under the broiler for 5-10 minutes. When the cheese begins to melt, remove.
4. Make vinaigrette: in a bowl mix salt, pepper, and mustard; add the vinegar and then the oil, mixing continuously.
5. Drizzle a spoonful of the vinaigrette over the lettuce strips on each dish. Place the toast with cheese on the bed of lettuce and serve right away. Decorate the cheese with a half of walnut or a sprig of parsley.
6. YIELD: Serves 4