Winter salad with a goat’s cheese mousse

Preparation time
30 minutes

Cooking time
45 minutes

Serves
4 as starter or
2 as main course

This recipe can be adapted to any vegetables that are in season, and in summer you can use peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes to make a crunchy raw version.
 
By Rachel Khoo
From The Little Paris Kitchen: Cooking with Rachel Khoo

Ingredients

  • 4 carrots, roughly chopped
  • 2 small dessert apples, cored and quartered
  • 2 parsnips, roughly chopped
  • 2 tbsp sunflower oil
  • salt
  • 3½ oz lardons or cubes of smoked bacon (optional)
  • 1 cooked beet, peeled and very thinly sliced
  • 2 handfuls of salad leaves

For the mousse:

  • 7 oz Selles-sur-Cher cheese*
  • ½ cup milk
  • ½ cup whipping cream

For the vinaigrette:

  • 4 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil
  • 2 tbsp cider vinegar
  • salt

 

Method

TO MAKE THE MOUSSE:

  1. Beat the cheese with the milk until soft and lump free.
  2. Whip the cream to stiff peaks. Add one-quarter of the whipped cream to the cheese and mix together, then fold in the rest of the cream.
  3. Transfer the mousse to a piping bag fitted with a ⅜-inch plain nozzle and leave in the fridge until needed (it will keep for a couple of days).

TO MAKE THE VINAIGRETTE:

  1. Mix together the oil and vinegar and season with salt.

TO MAKE THE DISH:

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F / 400°C / Gas 6
  2. Toss the carrots, apples, and parsnips into a large roasting pan. Drizzle with the sunflower oil and season with salt.
  3. Roast for 45 minutes or until the vegetables are tender and golden.
  4. Just as the vegetables finish cooking, toss the lardons (if using) into a hot pan and cook until crisp.
  5. To serve, pipe little blobs of mousse randomly all over a serving plate. Arrange the roasted vegetables and apples, beet, and salad leaves on the plate, and sprinkle the lardons (if used) on top. Finally, drizzle with the vinaigrette.

* Selles-sur-Cher cheese works particularly well. It is a goat’s cheese coated in edible ash that lends a subtle smokiness. But any other soft goat’s cheese will also work.

 

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