Goats Cheese Croûton Salad Recipes

GOAT'S CHEESE CROûTON SALAD

Steps:

• Quarter the peppers and remove the seeds and membrane. Place skin side up under a grill and cook until the skins are blackened. Cover tightly with a sheet of foil until cool enough to handle, then strip off the skins. Slice the peppers into strips and put in a medium sized bowl.
• Slice 16 slices from the baguette and place on a baking sheet. Brush with olive oil. Cut 16 slices of goat's cheese, putting a slice on each piece of bread. Wrap with cling film and chill until ready to cook.
• Roughly chop the parsley, then finely chop the red onion and halve and stone the olives. Add to the bowl with the red peppers and mix.
• Put the dressing ingredients in a screw-top jar with salt and pepper and shake well.
• To serve, preheat the oven to fan 180C/conventional 200C/Gas 6. Bake the toasts for 10 minutes until the cheese has melted and the bread is crisp. Meanwhile, scatter salad leaves over a serving platter and sprinkle with the red pepper mix. Drizzle over three quarters of the dressing and toss. Tuck the toasts among the leaves and drizzle with the remaining dressing.

BLACKBERRY, BEETROOT & GOAT'S CHEESE SALAD WITH POPPY SEED CROUTONS

Steps:

• First, cook the beetroots. If you're using yellow and purple beetroot, cook them separately to avoid staining. Put in a large pan of cold water, bring to the boil and simmer until the beetroots feel tender in the centre when poked with a skewer - large ones will take about 40 mins, smaller ones about 20 mins. Leave in a colander in a sink until cool enough to handle, then peel off the skin plus any remaining stalky bits - rubber gloves will stop your fingers from staining!
• For the croutons, heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Trim the crusts off the bread and cut the bread into chunky croutons. Toss with the oil and poppy seeds to coat, plus a little salt, then spread on a baking sheet and bake for 8 mins until crispy. Leave to cool.
• To make the dressing, lightly crush the blackberries with a fork. Whisk together the vinegar, oil, mustard powder and jam with some seasoning. Stir in the crushed blackberries, their juices, and the shallots.
• To assemble, slice the cooked beetroots and arrange over 4 or 6 plates. In a large bowl, toss the leaves, croutons, blackberries and chives with some of the dressing, then crumble in the goat's cheese and divide between the plates. Drizzle everything with a little more dressing, and serve.

FRISéE AND RADISH SALAD WITH GOAT CHEESE CROUTONS

Steps:

• Combine vinegar, mustard and shallot in small bowl. Whisk in 1/3 cup oil. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper. Combine endive and radishes in large bowl. (Can be prepared 4 hours ahead. Cover salad with damp towel and refrigerate. Cover dressing and let stand at room temperature.)
• Preheat broiler. Broil 1 side of bread until golden brown. Brush second side with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Spread with goat cheese. Season with pepper. Broil until bread is brown. Cut each slice into quarters.
• Add dressing to salad and toss to coat. Divide among plates. Top with croutons and serve immediately.