Baby Greens with Walnut-Dressing and Goat Cheese Custard
This seasonal salad made with baby greens is served with a goat cheese custard, Shallot-Walnut dressing and homemade Thyme crackers (substitute thyme leaves for the rosemary in this recipe). This Shallot-Walnut dressing, however, is great on any greens from Romaine to Arugula. In the cover photo for this recipe, I served the salad with grilled white and green asparagus. In the fall I will serve it with roasted beets or winter squash. Come summer, ripe tomatoes and other items from my garden make it into this salad.
I like to highlight seasonal products in this salad. Above, I served the salad with Green Zebra Tomatoes and sliced red onions.
Here I served it with roasted cherry tomatoes and fresh figs.
TOOL TIP:
These 3-ounce stainless steel ramekins are so versatile and have many uses in any kitchen. Obvious uses are as sauce ramekins, but other great uses are as containers for holding fine mise en place and for baking small custards and terrines.
Baby Greens with a Walnut Dressing and Goat Cheese Custard
Course: SaladsCuisine: FrenchDifficulty: Medium4
servings45
minutes15
minutesIngredients
4 cups of baby greens
Kosher salt and black pepper
Seasonal vegetables (asparagus, beets, tomatoes, winter squash, etc.)
Shallot-walnut dressing (recipe below)
Goat cheese custard (recipe below)
1/4 cup toasted whole walnuts for garnish
Fresh thyme leaves from 6 sprigs
Edible flowers - optional garnish (thyme flowers if available)
- Shallot-Walnut Dressing
2 cups walnut oil
1/4 cup crushed walnuts
1/4 cup minced shallot
1/2 cup sherry vinegar
3 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup honey
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Goat Cheese Custard
2 ounces of fresh goat cheese
2 cloves of garlic confit or roasted garlic
1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 cup heavy cream
4 large eggs
Kosher salt and freshly ground white pepper
Directions
- At service, place the greens in a large bowl. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and drizzle in just enough of the dressing to lightly coat the greens. Toss gently.
- Invert the goat cheese custard ramekin on a serving plate and remove the ramekin. If the custard does not slip out of the ramekin, take a thin paring knife or miniature off-set metal spatula and run it around the inside of the ramekin to release the custard.
- Place a mound of the greens next to the custard along with any of the optional cooked or raw seasonal vegetables. Finish with a drizzle of the dressing, toasted half walnuts, thyme crackers, thyme leaves and edible flowers.
- Shallot-Walnut Dressing
- Heat the walnut oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. When it gets very warm (not hot), add the crushed walnuts and shallots and allow it to steep off the heat until cool.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the vinegar, mustard and honey. While whisking, slowly drizzle in the cooled walnut oil until incorporated. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Goat Cheese Custard
- Place the heavy cream in a blender with the garlic and fresh thyme leaves. Blend until smooth.
- Add the goat cheese and blend for one minute.
- Add 3 egg yolks (use the egg whites for another recipe) and 1 whole egg, a pinch of salt and white pepper and blend again until smooth.
- Bring a quart of water to a boil for a hot water bath and preheat the oven to 350-degrees F.
- Lightly butter 4 three-ounce stainless steel ramekins and fill with the custard mixture. Place the filled ramekins in a cake pan with high sides and pour in enough boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
- Bake the custards in the preheated oven for around 15 minutes or until just set. To test, lightly shake the ramekin side to side and the custard should barely move or “jiggle”. Remove the custards from the hot water bath and cool at room temperature for a few minutes. Place the custards in the refrigerator to cool for at least 2 hours before attempting to un-mold them.
