Spring Salad with Grapes and Pistachio-Crusted Goat Cheese

I interrupt my recent #grahamandkelsiestoryofus series to bring you a salad recipe.

"Say what!?" you ask. I know. Like when does a salad recipe of all things trump a good romance story?

Today, y'all, today.

This has been a week of cooking (and much of it even successful!) and I'm hoping to get a few more recipes coming your way in the weeks to come (in addition to completing my love story, for the two of you who are waiting with bated breath). ;)  I served this salad on Tuesday evening when I hosted the ladies from my Bible study table for dinner. I have since been inundated with requests for the dressing recipe (ok fine so just 3 of the 8 of them asked) BUT STILL. So I decided I would kill two birds with one stone and do the public a favor and get this recipe out into all of your hands. Plus, the title of the salad begins with the word "Spring" and that is the season that tell me it is here the Pacific Northwest so I'm going with it. And just hoping the sunshine follows suit.

You might find this dish to be a timely addition to your Easter table, come to mention it. It's fresh yet it feels fancy and is fairly straight forward to prepare (though much more so if you have a food processer to do the pistachio chopping). It has been a hit every time it's been on the table. You begin with basic mixed greens and you dress them up with red grapes. Then small chunks of goat cheese are shaped into little rounds and then rolled in pistachios, creating a delightful combination of crunchy and creamy on the tongue. The process of making the cheese balls is admittedly a bit cumbersome but I figure my kids are almost to an age where I could set them up assembly-line-style and they could whip them out like nobody's business. ;)

It's really the dressing that makes this salad though. It consists of six basic ingredients that you shake together to combine in a mason jar. A single batch of it will dress two large salads easily and so you can enjoy it on multiple occasions. The dressing calls for two fresh herbs - basil and chives - and if you're looking to test out your green thumb, these are two I would highly recommend adding to your garden. Chives in particular couldn't be easier and plus they look really pretty amidst landscaping and in pots. They come back every year which is essential for our green thumb self esteem. I've had great success with both planting from seeds and beginning with starts. If you go the start route, buy at least three plants to make sure you always have an adequate supply ready to clip when a recipe calls. Harvesting them is easy - just trim off a handful (never the entire bunch) with kitchen sheers, rinse and chop. Clipping your herbs in this way actually stimulates more growth and you'll find new chives growing where you trimmed in no time! Enjoy.


Spring Salad with Grapes and Pistachio-Crusted Goat Cheese
(adapted from Cooking Light Magazine)

1/2 cup shelled dry-roasted pistachios, finely chopped
1 cup (8 ounces) goat cheese
1/2 cup Easy Herb Vinaigrette (recipe below)
2 (5-ounce) package gourmet salad greens or spring lettuce mix
2 cups seedless red grapes, halved
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place pistachios in a shallow dish. Divide cheese into 24 equal portions, rolling to form 24 balls. Roll each ball in the pistachios until well coated. Set pistachio-crusted cheese balls aside.
Combine Easy Herb Vinaigrette, greens and grapes in a large mixing bowl and toss to coat. Add goat cheese balls and toss again gently. Sprinkle with fresh-ground pepper and serve immediately.

Serves 8


Easy Herb Vinaigrette

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
3 tablespoons minced fresh chives

Combine all the ingredients in a pint-sized (2 cup) mason jar and shake to combine. Store, covered, in refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Makes about 1 2/3 cups

My First True French Salad with Goat Cheese in Puff Pastry

I remember so vividly the night I was introduced to my First True French Salad. We were in France, in Paris even, where everyone should probably experience their First True French Salad. It was June and we had spent a gloriously sunny day touring the city - the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame - on foot and via metro, a 9 month old babe strapped to my front.

We had been on our feet all day and I was exhausted and ready to collapse, but my husband had other ideas. He urged "just one more stop," a trip to the highest point in Paris, the Sacré-Cœur, a gleaming white church situated atop the butte Montmartre. I hesitantly agreed and after catching the metro across town, lugged my jet-lagged self up the many steps to the church. Our timing was perfect and what had seemed like madness to me suddenly began to make sense. It was early evening and the sun was beginning to make it's way down in the sky, creating a breathtaking glow as it reflected off the buildings of the city below. I was awestruck and grateful for my husband's wisdom in pushing me to just one more site. We savored the scene for as long as our hungry bellies would allow before heading back down the hill, this time down the steps on the side of the church, a different way from which we came. 

We had no idea where we were going, just hopeful we would happen upon a café that would strike our fancy. Graham, forever the lover of eating outdoors, was of course drawn to a small place with an even smaller patio crammed with drinking and smoking college students, a common sight in Paris. I wasn't too keen on the idea of dining with these comrades given that we were also traveling with a baby but it was getting late and we were hungry and it seemed our options at this point were either to eat there or wander for hours and potentially go without dinner. So we sat, with twinkling lights overhead, my stubborn nature warming yet again to my husband's gut instincts. He has a way of unearthing the amazing, if I just will let go of my way and let him.

I'll bet you know where this story is going. We placed our drink order (wine of course - we were in Paris!) and I began to relax. As was typical with our ignorance to the French language, we had no idea what we were reading as we perused the menu. With some effort, I had determined that a haricot vert was a French version of the green bean, slender and delicate. I spotted them amidst other words on the menu and figured I would order whatever it was, at ease knowing that it would at least include a vegetable.

When the dish arrived, I was delighted to discover it was actually a large salad. There were haricot verts, yes, but also lots of other tasty morsels - olives, hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes - finished with a perfectly-browned pastry balancing on top. And it got better. When I cut into the warm pastry, I realized it was filled with French cheese, melted and soft. I don't remember much else about the meal other than that I was in heaven. White lights, a warm evening, the best company (and by that I mean my husband and child, not our neighboring tables who did eventually put out their cigarettes), a cool glass of rosé in hand. And the most amazing salad. My First True French Salad.

As soon as we returned to the states I did everything in my power to try and figure out how to recreate the beloved dish. Of course I had no idea what it was called, no idea the name of the café we were at even. I did my best to come up with my own version, working from memory and using the American ingredients available to me. I must confess, my replication tastes pretty accurate though I would never discourage you from going to Paris yourself to try and real thing. Just look for that little café with the white lights down the hill to the right of Sacré-Cœur.

In the meantime, I cannot urge you enough to MAKE THIS. The recipe is pretty straight forward but it does require things like hard-boiled eggs and cooked haricot verts that add to the process if you don't have them made ahead of time. I recommend preparing dishes earlier in the week that call for haricot verts (or green beans are fine too) and hard-boiled eggs and cooking a few extras to set aside for this salad. Then it will come together quickly on the day you choose to serve it. You will not be disappointed that you went to the extra effort. Trust me. Bon Appétit!

My First True French Salad with Goat Cheese in Puff Pastry

1 egg

2 Tablespoons water
6 ounces of goat cheese, cut into six (1 ounce) round slices
Frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed
10 ounces mixed greens
3 cups haricot verts, cooked and cooled (or green beans)
6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut into wedges
6 Roma tomatoes cut into wedges
¼ cup Kalamata olives
Freshly ground pepper
French Vinaigrette Dressing (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Crack an egg into a small bowl or custard cup and whisk with water to create an egg wash. Unroll 1 sheet of puff pastry, trimming as needed to create a square that fits around your goat cheese round with some overlap. Brush the edges of the puff pastry with egg wash and then wrap around goat cheese, pinching to seal. Brush the top with egg wash and then place onto a greased baking sheet. Repeat with remaining 5 goat cheese rounds. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.

Meanwhile, divide salad greens onto 6 plates. Distribute haricot verts, hard-boiled egg wedges, tomatoes and olives evenly over the plates. Drizzle with French Vinaigrette a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. Top eat plate with a warm goat cheese pastry and serve with a fork and knife!

Serves 6

French Vinaigrette Dressing

(from David Lebovitz)

1/8 teaspoon Kosher salt

1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar

1/2 of a small shallot, minced (about 1 Tablespoon)

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

3 to 4 Tablespoons olive oil

Fresh herbs, if desired (I usually use chives but thyme or basil would be nice too)

In a small bowl, mix together the salt, vinegar, and shallot. Let stand for about ten minutes. Mix in the Dijon mustard, then add 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Stir well, then taste. If too sharp, add the additional olive oil and more salt, if necessary. If you wish to add fresh herbs, it’s best to chop and mix them in shortly before serving so they retain their flavor.

Makes about 1/4 cup, enough for one large green salad