Recipe – Baked Goat Cheese with Garden Salad

This recipe, from the Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook, is one of all-time favorite salad recipes. It is so deceivingly simple and yet incredibly flavorful, the very essence of what Chez Panisse stood for when it opened. Click through for what is sure to become one of your go-to recipes.

Baked Goat Cheese with Garden Salad

from the Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook

Serves 4

• 3 to 4 2.5-inch-diameter rounds of fresh goat cheese, each about 1/2 inch thick
• about 3/4 cup virgin olive oil
• 3 to 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 cup fine dry bread crumbs
• 2 to 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
• salt & pepper to taste
• 16 garlic croutons (recipe follows)
• about 4 handfuls garden lettuces (rocket, lamb’s lettuce, small oak leaf & red leaf lettuces, chervil)

1. DO AHEAD -Marinate the goat cheese rounds in 1/4 cup of the olive oil with the sprigs of fresh thyme for a day.
2. Preheat the oven to 350F. Mix the dried thyme with the cup of fine bread crumbs.
3. Prepare the vinaigrette by whisking the remaining 1/2 cup of olive oil into the 2 to 3 tablespoons of vinegar until the vinaigrette is balanced, and season with salt and pepper.
4. Make the garlic croutons: brush 1/4 inch slices of day-old baguette with melted butter and bake in 350F oven for 5 to 7 minutes, until the croutons are light golden brown. Peel 2 to 3 cloves of garlic and rub each crouton with the raw garlic while they are still warm.
5. Turn the oven up to 400F. Wash and dry the lettuces.
6. To bake the goat cheese, take the rounds out of the olive oil marinade and then dip them in the bread crumbs. Put the cheese on a lightly oiled baking dish and bake at 400F for about 6 minutes, until the cheese is lightly bubbling and golden brown.
7. Meanwhile, toss the lettuces with enough vinaigrette to lightly coat them and arrange them on salad plates. Place the cheese in the center of the plates with the browner side up, and arrange the croutons around the cheese.

This recipe is great in the summertime with a light, fresh white wine or in the winter time with a hearty red. It also compliments virtually any main course, and you can play with the types of lettuces to fit your menu.

If you live in North Carolina, I of course recommend picking up some of Hillsborough Cheese Company’s delicious chevre.