cheese

roquefort salad with warm croutons and lardons

servings
4 as a main

method

Roquefort is a fantastic cheese, with a great story behind it. A few hundred years ago there was a guy out in the forest eating some cheese, when a foxy chick walked past. Not wanting to miss out, he threw his cheese into a cave to keep it safe and ran after the girl. He returned a few weeks later to retrieve his cheese and found it had gone mouldy, but in a good way, and had really matured. Ever since then, proper authentic Roquefort has to be aged in those same stone caves of Mont Combalou at Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. Genius!

This salad really shows off the Roquefort, and several other great French ingredients, most of which can be found without any trouble here in the UK. It’s worth getting the smoked bacon from the butcher so you have lovely extra-large hand-cut lardons for this. The kick-ass mustard dressing adds a bit of flair at the end, and ultimately, this salad is my homage to my dear French friends and that lucky man from all those years ago who invented such a great cheese and hopefully had one of the best bunk-ups of his life!

Put a large frying pan on a high heat, and once hot, add a good couple of lugs of olive oil. Cut your bacon into thick 1cm lardons (have a look at the picture – that's roughly the size your croutons and bacon should be), and add to the pan. Fry, stirring occasionally, for around 3 minutes, or until you’ve got a good bit of color on the bacon and a lot of the fat has rendered out. Turn the heat down a little and add your bread to the pan, making sure you spread the croutons out so they take on some colour. Fry for another 3 minutes, or until they’ve sucked up all the wonderful flavor and are lovely,
crisp and golden.

Put the extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard and a good pinch of salt and pepper into a clean jam jar. Put the lid on and give it a shake, then have a taste and make sure you’ve got the balance right. You want it to be slightly too acidic at this stage, as you’ll get quite a bit of saltiness from the bacon and French dressings tend to be quite sharp.

Once your dressing is made, get everyone around the table so they’re ready to tuck in as soon as the salad is ready. Put your salad leaves on a big platter, tear in the radicchio, then pour over that wonderful, thick dressing. Scatter over most of your walnuts and chives and all the croutons and lardons. Quickly mix it all up with your clean hands so that every single leaf is coated.

Use the tip of a knife to crumble off little nuggets of Roquefort and let them fall straight on to your salad. Finish by scattering over the rest of the walnuts and chives from a height, and tuck in.

• from Jamie does...

ingredients

• olive oil
• 250g piece of smoked bacon,
the best quality you can
afford, rind removed
• 2 thick slices of sourdough
bread, cut into 1cm pieces
• 4 large handfuls of lamb’s
lettuce, watercress or rocket,
washed and spun dry
• 2 large handfuls of radicchio,
washed and spun dry
• a large handful of shelled
walnut halves, sliced
• a bunch of fresh chives,
finely chopped
• 100g Roquefort cheese
For the dressing
• 6 tablespoons extra
virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red
wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• sea salt and freshly ground
black pepper

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tried this recipe or a similar one? share your tips...

1. by Daniel on Sat 31 Mar 2012 @ 09:53

I made this salad tonight for dinner and we loved it so much. One of the easiest and most delicious meals that I ever made.<br /> Thank you Jamie for this beautiful French recipe and for the inspiration!<br /> Daniel, Sydney

2. by Jill on Tue 27 Mar 2012 @ 07:44

I made this last night for the family, Used a spinach and rocket salad bag instead though, and fried the bread in garlic infused olive oil. The family said "That was the best meal you've ever made!!!! Served with a grilled chicken breast.<br /> So quick and easy and Delicious.

3. by lisofy on Fri 14 Jan 2011 @ 18:25

if i dont find the lamb lettuce or the radiccio for what i can change it???

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