Chèvre chaud (French vinaigrette salad with melted aged goat cheese)

                                                            Prep time: 15 minutes

                                                            Cook time: 5 minutes

                                                            Serves: 2

           

I just returned from Provence (France), where goat cheese is a way of life. We enjoyed this salad while looking out on tall cypress trees and linear rows of lavender with purple just beginning to peek out from tight buds.

Chèvre chaud (which translates literally from the French, to hot goat cheese), is a salad, best served as a starter before dinner, or as a light lunch. This salad is one my family’s all time favorites. The inspiration comes from David Simpson and Noёlle Spieth, friends, gourmet cooks, and musicians from Paris who first made it for us (with unpasteurized cheese of course). We flipped, and have made it regularly ever since. See the commentary on goat cheese and lettuce, below.

MUSIC: David Simpson has a beautiful CD of Barriere’s sonatas for cello, but you might have trouble finding it. Next, try Bach unaccompanied cello suites. Not in the mood for Bach? Try any Chet Baker or Miles’s KIND OF BLUE.

HERE’S ALL YOU NEED:

FOR THE SALAD:

1. Goat cheese (the ‘chèvre’): this is the important part (see about goat cheese, below).  Rounds ¼ inch thick of 'Chabichou du poiton', placed on a small pan for melting under a broiler.
2. Lettuce, one small head or half a large head, soft leaves only.
3. Green onions, thinly sliced, white part or green part, 1 tsp per serving, approx. (don’t over do the onions)

FOR THE DRESSING: Any oil and vinegar dressing will work except those that come from a bottle—they have too many extra flavors. I prefer a French style white vinegar-Dijon vinaigrette. In a jar, mix:

1. Olive oil, ½ Cup
2. White wine vinegar (or red wine vinegar) (1 part for 5 or 6 parts oil, about 1/8 Cup)
3. Garlic, 1 clove peeled, cut in half (to stay in the jar)
4. Dijon mustard, ½ tsp
5. Salt, about ½ tsp or less (remember, mustard is salty also)
6. Black pepper

HERE’S WHAT TO DO:

• Add all the dressing ingredients, shake and let sit for 2 hours, shaking periodically, to bring out the garlic flavor
• Tear the fine lettuce leaves (washed and dried well) into bite sized pieces and place in salad bowl.
• Add sliced green onions.
• Turn on broiler (a broiler in a toaster oven works just fine).
• Add some dressing to the greens and combine gently. Add more dressing if too dry.
• Plate the salad on separate plates and wait for the cheese to melt.
• Broil chèvre and watch until it is bubbling and soft, maybe even some liquefaction. A little brown is okay, but not too much.
• Scoop pieces of melted chèvre with spatula directly onto each salad and serve immediately. One or two pieces per serving is usually plenty.
• Serve with fresh baguette and butter.

WINE: Generally, wine does not accompany dressed salads well. Water is better. If it is the main course, then a Chardonnay, Sauvignon blanc, or Beaujolais would do nicely.

About goat cheese (Chèvre). Goat cheese starts out soft and white when it’s fresh. Mounds are shaped into the size of a child’s fist and put aside for aging. When Chèvre ages, it develops a slight rind, dries somewhat, and becomes more firm the more aged it is. The flavor gets stronger as it ages.

            For the right ‘melt’ in this recipe, use a medium aged cheese. Too fresh, it remains tangy white goat cheese like it started out. Too aged (firm), it never melts enough to soften.

            Look for Chabichou du Poiton. Ask simply for “Chabichou” (pronounced: shabby-shoe). It is a firm but squeezable medium aged goat cheese perfect for this salad. Slightly firmer and smaller is the Pelardon, also good. Any serious cheese store should carry some aged goat cheese

About lettuce. It has become harder and harder over recent years to consistently find lettuce with nice delicate leaves. Lettuce seems to be bred these days for durability, and the leaves are too thick, too stiff. And the bitter lettuce, though fashionable, doesn’t work at all. For this recipe you want soft, sweet leaves. Boston butter lettuce is the best when the leaves are soft. Directly out of your garden, or the hydroponic varieties are usually best. Green or red leaf lettuce can also be delicate. Romaine, while crisp and great for Caesar salad, doesn’t work well. Wild bitter greens should be avoided. If you happen to be in France, several butter lettuce varieties are grown. The Chinois variety is spectacular: a broad head of light green small soft leaves.

One other thing. Many recipes exist for Chevre chaud, and many suggest melting a piece of fresh (not aged) cheese onto a piece of thin toast (with olive oil) before placing it on top of the salad. This is fine, especially if the quality of the melt is less amenable to placing cheese directly on the salad.