Tonight’s first course for me will be this salad, which comes from last week’s Globe & Mail. Trish spotted the recipe, in an article entitled Hot, Cheesy Goodness and forwarded it to me with the comment “the first recipe sounds like it was created for you”.
Goat Cheese Sandwiches with Warm Mushroom Salad
Basically, this salad is mushrooms and fried bread filled with goat cheese — but what could be better than that?
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 pound mixed wild mushrooms
- 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- ½ cup soft goat cheese
- 2 tablespoons pesto
- ¼ cup butter
- 4 long thin slices of focaccia or other bread
- 1 small head of frisée lettuce
Heat olive oil in a skillet on medium heat. Add mushrooms and sauté for 1 minute or until beginning to wilt. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute more or until mushrooms are just cooked through. Stir in balsamic vinegar and remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Reheat when needed.
Combine goat cheese and pesto and set aside. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a small skillet over medium heat and, working in batches and adding more butter to the pan as needed, fry one side of each piece of bread for 1 minute or until lightly golden. Then fry second side.
Spread each toast with ¼ of the goat cheese mixture and carefully fold bread in half so that the filling is in the middle and bread makes a "C" shape.
Divide the frisée between 4 plates and top with a mound of sautéed mushrooms and a drizzle of the pan juices. Place one goat cheese toast on top of each salad. Serves 4.
