Warm French Goat's Cheese Salad (Salade de Chêvre Chaud)

5 from 10 votes

Warm French Goat's Cheese Salad (Salade de Chêvre Chaud)

Recipe video above. Warm Goat’s Cheese Salad is a classic starter found in bistros all across France. Called Salade de Chêvre Chaud, it's a fresh leaf salad with nuts and bacon, and crowned with pan-fried goat’s cheese medallions that are golden outside and oozing inside.

Simple to make, this most French of French salads makes for a chic change from the usual crumbled goats cheese number!

Serves 4 as a starter, or 2 as a meal

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time10 mins

Total Time30 mins

Course: Appetiser, Salad, Salad meal, Side Salad

Cuisine: French

Keyword: French salad, Goat's Cheese Salad, Salade de chêvre chaud

Servings: - 4 people

Calories: 685cal

Author: Nagi

Ingredients

Crumbed Goats Cheese Medallions:

2 x 60g / 2oz ripened goat's cheese , each round 5-6cm (2-2.2") wide, ideally AOC (Note 1)
1 egg
2 tbsp flour , plain / all-purpose
1/3 cup breadcrumbs regular kind, else sub panko; (Note 2)
30g / 2 tbsp butter , unsalted

Salad:

2 tsp pine nuts
1/4 cup walnuts
100g / 3.5oz bacon streaky; cut into 0.5 x 1.25cm (1/5 x 1/2") lardons
1/2 head of red oak or bibb lettuce (large) , washed, dried and leaves torn into 2 or 3 large pieces; (Note 3)
1 tomato large; cut into 8 wedges
1/2 tsp chives , finely chopped

Vinaigrette:

1/4 tsp garlic , very finely minced
1 tbsp eschalot , finely diced (~ 1 tbsp); (Note 4)
1/4 tsp Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (the best quality you can afford)
4 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (the best quality you can afford)
1/8 tsp salt

Cups - Metric

Instructions

Crumb goat's cheese:

Slice cheese: Cut goat's cheese if necessary to create ~ 1.25cm (1/2") thick rounds.
Place flour, whisked egg and breadcrumbs in 3 separate, small bowls.
Crumb cheese: Coat cheese in flour, shake off excess. Dip in egg, allow excess to drip. Coat with breadcrumbs, pressing to adhere. Place on plate and set aside.

Prepare salad:

Toast nuts: Spread nuts in a layer on a tray. Toast in a 180C / 375F oven for around 5 minutes until they are lightly browned and smell toasty. Immediately transfer to a small bowl to cool. Alternatively, toast in a skillet over medium heat (walnuts will take longer than pine nuts, so best to do in separate batches).
Cook bacon: Place bacon in a cold non-stick pan. Turn the stove to medium and let the pan warm up. Once the fat starts to melt, turn the heat to high. Stir and cook bacon until golden. Drain excess fat on paper towels.
Dressing: Shake dressing ingredients in a jar.
Begin assembling salad: Place lettuce in a bowl, casually arrange tomatoes, then sprinkle with nuts and bacon.

Pan-fry cheese:

Melt butter in a small non-stick pan over medium-high heat.
Pan-fry cheese: Once butter is foaming, cook crumbed cheeses for 1 - 1 1/2 minutes on one side until golden. Carefully turn, cook other side for 1 minute until golden. Remove and drain on paper towels.

Finish salad:

Drizzle each salad with 2 tbsp of dressing. Arrange 2 crumbed cheeses on top of each salad. Sprinkle with chives.
Serve immediately, while cheese is hot and melty inside!

Notes

1. Goats Cheese - The best cheese to use is ripened goat's cheese, preferably an AOC* goat's cheese, which has a rind and creamy centre that melts when heated. Ideally the cheese comes in small discs around 5 - 6cm / 2 - 2.3" thick, or log form that you can slice accordingly into 1.25cm / 1/2" medallions. The reason is you need rind encasing each slice (around the rim only, not the cut face) else the cheese runs everywhere when you pan-fry it.

The following goat's cheeses are all suitable:

Crottin de Chavignol - an AOC* French goat's cheese, an excellent quality cheese and a very traditional one to use in this salad. Made from unpasteurised goat's milk so unfortunately not available in Australia (can't be imported);
Crottin des Deux-Sèvres – Though not an AOC* cheese, this French goat's cheese is very similar to Crottin de Chavignol, according to the chef-owner of my wonderful local French deli Le Petit Marché in Sydney. This is the cheese I used and I can vouch for how good it is!
Crottin de Champcol – The pasteurised version of the Crottin de Chavignol;
Picandou and Pico Affine (both pictured in post) – Picandou is especially ideal because each round is the perfect size to pan fry as-is, without slicing in half. Also, since they're fully encased with rind, they are easier to handle! Pico affine are a little large, so serve 1 per person. Available in Harris Farms, Sydney.
Chabichou du Poitou – Another cheese from the Loire Valley.
Le Chabichou d'Antan – Available at Le Petit Marché, Sydney.
Holy Goat La Luna – An Australian ripened goat's cheese. Available at some Harris Farms and elsewhere.

Other French ripened goat's cheeses that could be used include Pélardon and Rocamadour. These may be tough to find in Australia.

* AOC = French legal food designation to protect quality and origins of food products. Read in post for more information.

Can't find ripened goats cheese with a rind? If you can only get fresh goat's cheese, ie. the kind that is spreadable or the crumbling kind, no problems. Make this salad the "other way" which is to grill the cheese on bread, as follows:

Use small baguettes, cut into slices
Lightly toast
Smear with a generous amount of goat's cheese
Grill/broil until lightly browned and warmed through
Place on salad

2. Breadcrumbs – Though panko will work just fine, the traditional way of making this salad is using ordinary fine breadcrumbs.

3. Lettuce - This salad is made with all sorts of lettuce. Oak lettuce or bibb lettuce works particularly well because the soft leaves sit nicely at the base of the bowl, and the leaves have a nice elegant shape to them. You could also use cos/romaine lettuce, even iceberg (cut into bite-size pieces) or baby lettuce leaves.

If using oak lettuce, leave the lettuce in larger pieces that you then cut when eating. Because the lettuce is so soft, they just flatten under the weight of the other toppings if cut into bite size pieces.

4. Eschalots – Also known as French onions, and are called “shallots” in the US. They look like baby onions, but have purple-skinned flesh, are finer and sweeter. Not to be confused with what some people in Australia call “shallots” ie the long green onions.

5. Recipe credit – This recipe was developed together with chef Jean-Baptiste Alexandre, a classically-trained French chef residing here in Sydney, Australia. These iconic French recipes need to be done right! More on "JB" in the brioche recipe.

6. Nutrition per salad, assuming 2 servings as a meal.

Nutrition