Roquefort Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette – AKA: Oh, well, excuse me Mr. Fancy Pants

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Blue Cheese! Whether it’s Gorgonzola, Stilton, local favorite Point Reyes Blue, or star of today’s show, Roquefort, I love ’em all. My favorite way to enjoy any style of blue cheese is part of a salad, lending their savory and tangy flavors to the cornucopia of vegetative treasures.

Some non cheese enthusiasts might be put off by the mold. Love the mold. The mold is good. Just try a little if you’re a bit tempestuous and I’m sure you’ll fit right into the…mold. Oh man, these jokes are…cheesy…

Salads, much like one of my favorite things to cook, stews, are very similar in a very simple way. You can throw in just about anything and it SHOULD work. Should. As long as some of the flavors don’t wildly overpower others, go for it.

This one is really easy, and should fulfill the time when you really want something both savory and sweet. Bon appétit!

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Serving Size: 2…or 1.5 Mes (I do have my limits)

• 2-3 heads of Little Gems Lettuce
• 6 oz. Roquefort Cheese
• 1 Red Pear (red for color, but you can choose any)
• 1 Avocado
• 1/4 cup roasted and salted Pecans
• 1/8 cup sweetened dried Cranberries
• Salt/Pepper

Dressing:

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Champagne Vinegar
  • 2:1 ratio oil to vinegar (roughly 3 Tbsp. to 1.5 Tbsp.)
• 1 tsp. Dijon Mustard
• 1/2 tsp. Honey
• pinch of Salt/Pepper, each

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1.) Prepping the greens is very simple. Tear off each leaf and trim off the bottom white part. You can leave the rest of the leaf (Leave the leaf? Almost a homophone.) intact or chop it up, it’s up to you. Throw ’em in a bowl, with gusto! Sorry, where are my manners? Pardon, avec enthousiasme, s’il vous plaît.

2.) Round up and measure out your nuts and berries (be gentle). Cut up your avocado and pear and use at least half of each. You can enjoy the rest of your pear later (or now) and maybe put the rest of your avocado in a sandwich later. Then add a pinch of salt and pepper each. When it comes to the cheese, use your fingers to pinch up some crumbles and toss those in as well. We’ll want to add some cheese now so that when you mix the salad, it lends a little creamyness to the whole shebang. We’ll then finish off the plate at the end with some extra cheese as a garnish if you will.

3.) Get a small mason jar with a lid and fill it up with your oil, vinegar, mustard, honey, and add a pinch of salt and pepper each. Close the lid and mix it up a bit, preferably swirling more than shaking because olive oil doesn’t like to be shaken with too much force. You’ve now made a simple honey-Dijon vinaigrette. Félicitations! (The amount of French words here are really mounting up, aren’t they?)

4.) Add the dressing to the bowl once shaken and then mix everything together. Plate it up, garnish with extra berries, pecans, and cheese if you wish (you do). Make it look nice, and enjoy!