ROQUEFORT SALAD WITH WARM CROUTONS AND LARDONS

facebook share image   twitter share image   pinterest share image   E-Mail share image



Roquefort Salad with Warm Croutons and Lardons image

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!

Provided by Jamie Oliver

Time 26m

Yield 4 servings (main)

Number Of Ingredients 12

Olive oil
8 ounces (1/2 pound)/250 g piece smoked bacon, the best quality you can afford, rind removed
2 thick slices sourdough bread, cut into 1/2-inch/1 cm pieces
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 large handfuls lamb's lettuce (mache), watercress, or rocket, washed and spun dry
2 large handfuls radicchio, washed and spun dry
A large handful shelled walnut halves, sliced
A bunch fresh chives, finely chopped
3 1/2 ounces/100 g Roquefort cheese

Steps:

  • ;
  • Put a large frying pan on a high heat, and once hot, add a good couple lugs of olive oil.
  • Cut your bacon into thick 1/2-inch/1 cm lardons, and add to the pan. Fry, stirring occasionally, for around 3 minutes, or until you've got a good bit of colour 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 flavour and are lovely, crisp, and golden.
  • For the dressing:
  • 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. Cook's Note: 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.
  • For the salad:
  • 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 lamb's lettuce (mache) 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!

Tshiamo Thabane
[email protected]

I wouldn't recommend this salad.


Shobuj Raj
[email protected]

Overall, I thought this salad was just okay.


Pushpa Latha
[email protected]

I think this salad would be better with a different type of dressing.


Memunatu Bangura
[email protected]

The croutons were a bit too hard for my taste.


Mubaraka Yusuf
[email protected]

I found this salad to be a bit too rich.


MAHBOOB Ali jalalani Karachi
[email protected]

I didn't have any roquefort cheese, so I used blue cheese instead. It was still good, but I think the roquefort would have been better.


Kingsley Kingmate
[email protected]

This salad was a bit too salty for my taste.


Sy'Jones
[email protected]

I highly recommend this salad!


Waheed Sabir
[email protected]

This salad is perfect for a light lunch or dinner.


Rena Kitchen
[email protected]

I substituted walnuts for the croutons and it was still delicious.


Sar min
[email protected]

This salad is a great way to use up leftover roquefort cheese.


Ali Waelarab
[email protected]

I love the combination of salty, sweet, and crunchy in this salad.


AL_HAFIZ CROCKERY
[email protected]

Delicious and easy to make! I'm definitely adding this to my regular rotation of recipes.


Medhi Da dix
[email protected]

I've made this salad several times and it's always a crowd-pleaser.


Kyla Anyanje
[email protected]

This salad was a hit at my dinner party! The combination of flavors and textures was perfect.