A Tale of Two Salads...

Tonight was a hodgepodge of dinners in my house.  I decided we were clearing out the fridge!  2 of the kids had leftovers from our restaurant foray on Saturday night.  Will came home from skiing and decided to make himself a salad.  You know a 13 year old who has just skied for 4 hours is not looking for a healthy salad!  Let's just the house smells of bacon!

According to him it was perfect:  lettuce, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, croutons and cheese!  He did make his own dressing though - with balsamic vinegar.  The dressing could have been the healthiest thing on his plate!  He thinks he was in good shape because it "had a lot of protein"!! Oh well, better then fast food and he did have a lot of lettuce and tomatoes!

I decided I was going to use the goat cheese that I've had in the refrigerator since Christmas.  I've been dying to try the salad with warm goat cheese from Ina Garten.  I made a few changes, some for health reasons, some for laziness.  Oh my gosh..... it was sooo good !!  Mart and I both said we could eat it every day! The combination of the crisp, cool lettuce and the warm, crispy goat cheese was spectacular.  Mart had a piece of Chabatta with his but to me, the salad was more then enough.  So delicious!  This could be addictive!(I put a large serving of lettuce on each plate, the goat cheese is so creamy, it is almost like a dressing in itself.)

Warm Goat Cheese Salad (adapted from Barefoot Contessa Parties)

Serves 2

4-6  1/2 inch slices of goat cheese (slice with dental floss from log)

1 egg white

Fresh Bread Crumbs

Dressing:

1 tblsp good cider vinegar

1 tblsp white wine vinegar

pinch of kosher salt

pinch of sugar

freshly ground pepper to taste

1/2 egg yolk(or 1/2 tblsp mayo)

1/2 cup olive oil

Slice cheese, dip in egg white, then bread crumbs.  Place on rack and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes. (Don't skip the refrigeration part!)

For Dressing mix vinegars, salt, sugar, pepper and egg yolk in blender.  Then add oil and blend until dressing is thickened.

In saute pan, melt 1 tsp butter and 1/2 tblsp oil on medium high heat.  Cook goat cheese rounds on both sides until crisp but not melted.

Dress salad greens on plate and add 2 rounds to each.  Enjoy!!