Warm Goat Cheese Salad the Way It Should Be

Yes. This is the Salade au Chèvre Chaud you're looking for.

Have you ever tried a salade au chèvre chaud—warm goat cheese salad—in the U.S. and wondered why it wasn’t as great as you’d expect from a French classic? The trick is simply this: You have to use the right cheese. Read on!

Warm Goat Cheese Salad // Salade au Chevre Chaud. The key is using the right goat cheese.

I’ll never forget the first time I spotted a warm goat cheese salad on the menu in the U.S. It was sometime in the late 1990s. At last! I thought. Chefs are finally seizing the wonder of this classic salad. By then, I’d had it often in France.

Sadly, the U.S. salad was a fail of the first degree. It consisted of lackluster greens, topped with a disk of fresh goat cheese on a slice of lackluster baguette. While I don’t think the bread was even toasted, the main culprit was the cheese. It was chalky and tangy and not much else.

Too many American recipes—and frankly, too many American chefs—use fresh goat cheese for their warm goat cheese salad. Trouble is, fresh goat cheese doesn’t melt into that oozy lusciousness that’s so loved in the best warm goat cheese salads in France. And the flavor of fresh goat cheese just can’t compare to the depth of an aged goat cheese.

Choose a semi-aged goat cheese, however, and it will be the Salade au Chevre Chaud it’s supposed to be. Semi-aged (also called semi-ripened) goat cheeses have been aged (ripened) long enough to develop a soft, generally edible rind. The flavors are more complex and the cheese melts into oozy lusciousness.

Here’s my recipe. Enjoy!

Melty Goat Cheese Salad with Honey and Pine Nuts

This warm goat cheese salad is similar to one I came across while dining at a simple sidewalk café in Cadillac, near Bordeaux. I love the way the honey contrasts with the bold goat cheese; the buttery pine nuts also add richness.

For the photo, I used Humbolt Fog “Cypress Grove” semi-ripened goat cheese, but you can use any semi-ripened (aka semi-aged) goat cheese you like.

Makes 4 servings

1          tablespoon rice wine vinegar or white wine vinegar
1          garlic clove, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
3          tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus additional for brushing
4          (1/2-inch thick) baguette slices
4          (1/2-inch thick) slices semi-ripened goat cheese, such as Crottin or Chabichou (about 1/3 pound total; see Note, below)
5          cups mixed tender greens, preferably including arugula
2          tablespoons toasted pine nuts
4          teaspoons honey

1. Preheat the broiler.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the rice wine vinegar, garlic, and salt and pepper. Whisk in the olive oil.

3. Toast both sides of the baguette slices in a toaster oven or under the broiler, then brush one side with a little olive oil. Place the baguette slices, oiled sides up, on a small baking sheet and top each with a round of goat cheese. Watching carefully, broil 3 to 4 inches from the heat until the goat cheese is softened and melted in places, about 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the broiler.

4. Add the greens to the salad bowl and toss to coat well with the dressing. Divide the greens among four salad plates. Top each with a cheese toast. Sprinkle the pine nuts over each salad. Drizzle the honey over the toasts. Serve.

Note: Other soft-ripened goat cheeses can be used; however, they come in a variety of shapes and sizes. If necessary, cut the goat cheese to fit on top of the baguette slice without any cheese hanging over.

Note: This recipe is from my book: Everyday French Cooking: Modern French Cuisine Made Simple—the French cookbook you can truly cook from, night after night.