Cooks’ Club Challenge: Warm salad of goat cheese & figs

Much of Australia is blazing as we speak … literally. It is HOT down under this time of year and many cannot bear the thought of cooking a meal indoors. So the obvious thing to do is to cook outside on the barbecue or make crisp cool salads. When I was still living in Melbourne there were days where all I could manage were fruit smoothies. It was almost impossible to sleep at night without the fan or air-conditioning … and it’s only January. Things get worse in February.

I can see why the theme for the month is salad; crisp, cool and lite. When eating becomes all too much of an effort, the least you can so is munch on a couple of leaves and drink buckets full of iced-tea. While it isn’t exactly summery weather here in the Netherlands, it isn’t exactly wintery either. Not a drop of snow all season; temperatures have not dropped below zero since we crossed over into November … while my cousin in North America froze her butt off. Well, they want salad for this challenge then salad they will get. I chose to do a warm salad to reflect the season in which I currently live. The original recipe can be found on the Taste.com.au website.

Prep time : 15 mins

Cook time : 15 mins

Serves : 4

Ingredients

• 1 x 40cm baguette (French breadstick), diagonally cut into 5mm-thick slices
• 2 x 150g pkts goat’s cheese (South Cape brand)
• 80ml (1/3 cup) extra virgin olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 2 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme
• 2 tsp finely grated lemon rind
• 2 x 180g pkts mixed salad leaves
• 8 fresh figs, cut into wedges Dressing
• 160ml (2/3 cup) extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbs fresh lemon juice
• 1 tbs wholegrain mustard
• 2 tsp yellowbox honey
• Salt & freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Place the baguette slices, in a single layer, on a baking tray. Bake in preheated oven for 5 minutes or until light brown. Spread the baguette slices evenly with goat’s cheese. Combine the oil, garlic, thyme and lemon rind in a small bowl. Drizzle evenly over goat’s cheese.
2. Bake in oven for a further 10 minutes or until golden brown and heated through. Remove from oven.
3. Meanwhile, to make the dressing, combine the oil, lemon juice, mustard and honey in a small bowl. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
4. Place the salad leaves in a large bowl. Drizzle with dressing and toss to combine. Divide the salad leaves among serving plates. Top with figs and goat’s cheese toast and serve immediately.