Creamy, nutty and fresh salad, perfect for an elegant summer lunch
The inspiration for this salad came from a very memorable lunch in a cafe in Amsterdam. Food always seems to feature heavily in my fondest memories! I had never eaten anything like it before; the combination of flavours and textures blew me away, yet it appeared so simple to put together.
Immediately upon my return I bought all the required ingredients and got to work, but it didn’t taste the same. I used olive oil and white wine vinegar and it just wasn’t right. Back to the drawing board. Next time, I tried apple cider vinegar and walnut oil – much better!
As with many of my recipes, exact amounts don’t really matter and I rarely measure anything unless I’m baking – feel free to add more or less as you wish.
Ingredients
Small bag of mixed salad leaves (any combination you like, but I think soft leaves work better than baby gem, iceberg etc)
1 pack soft goats cheese (the kind that comes in a log shaped roll)
Handful of walnut halves, chopped, plus 8 more whole for decorating
Handful of red grapes
Apple cider vinegar
Walnut oil
Runny Honey
Balsamic dressing (if you haven’t got any of this, you can boil balsamic until it reduces)
Equipment
- Frying pan
- Chopping board
- Knife
- Tablespoon
- Serving plates
Method
- Roughly chop the walnut halves
- Slice the goats cheese into 6 rounds
- Roll the cheese in the chopped walnuts to coat on all sides. You can press quite firmly to push them in
- To make the dressing, combine approximately 2 tablespoons walnut oil with 1 tablespoon cider vinegar and a dessert spoon of runny honey. Season to taste with salt and pepper
- Halve the grapes and mix with the salad leaves
- Toss the salad leaves with the dressing and divide between two plates
- Heat a splash of walnut oil in a frying pan until smoking hot. Toast the walnut covered goats cheese rounds in 2 batches. The key is to have the pan really hot to colour the walnuts quickly, but not melt the goats cheese too much. It really is a matter of 10 seconds per side
- Place 3 goats cheese rounds on top of each salad and top with the extra walnut halves and a drizzle of balsamic dressing
