Smithsonian - Perishable Pundit

.hadSALAD GREENS WITH GOAT CHEESE, PEARS, AND WALNUTSThis recipe comes from Joan Nathan's The New American Cooking,to be published in October 2005 by Alfred A. Knopf.One of the most appealing recipes to come out of Alice Waters's Chez Panisse Restaurantin Berkeley, California, is a salad of tiny mache topped with goat cheese. How revolutionarythis salad seemed to Americans in the 1 970s! How normal today.[28]Alice got her cheese from Laura Chenel, a Sebastopol, California, native who was trying to liveoff the grid,raising goats for milk. The same year Chez Panisse really caught on, Laura went toFrance to learn how to make authentic goat cheese. When she came back, she practiced whatshe had learned, and it wasn't long before a friend tasted her cheese and introduced her toAlice. "All of a sudden the demand was so great," Laura told me, "that Ito borrow milkfrom others." Beginning with its introduction at Alice's restaurant at the right moment in 1979,the goat cheese produced at Laura Chenel's Chevre, Inc., became a signature ingredient in thenewly emerging California Cuisine. Today, artisanal cheese (made by hand in small batcheswith traditional methods) and farmstead cheese (made on the farm where it is milked) makeup one of the largest food movements in the United States. Chevre, Inc., has become synonymouswith American chévre, and Laura stilltends her beloved herd of 500 goats herself.Vi cup walnuts1Preheat the oven to 3504. Spread some of the goat1 teaspoon Dijon mustard2 tablespoons balsamic vinegarVt teaspoon sugar2 tablespoons walnut oil2 tablespoons canolaor vegetable oilSalt and freshly groundpepper to taste2 ripe Bosc pears5 ounces goat cheese6 slices French bread,cut in thin rounds8 cups small salad greensdegrees. Spread out thewalnuts in a small bakingpan and toast them in theoven untillightly browned,5 to 7 minutes. Take thewalnuts out of the oven,but leave the oven on.2. Mix the mustard with thevinegar and Vi teaspoon ofsugar in a large salad bowl.Slowly whisk in the walnutand canola or vegetableoil.Season with salt andpepper to taste. Set aside.3. Cut 1 pear into thinrounds. Peel and corethe second pear, slice itinhalf lengthwise, andcut into thin strips.cheese on the rounds ofFrench bread and top witha pear round. Then spreadsome more cheese on topof the pear. Bake in theoven a few minutes, untilthe cheese has melted.5. While the cheese is baking,add the salad greens tothe salad bowl with thethin pear slices and tossgently to mix. Divide thesalad among 6 to 8 plates.6. Place the hot pear-cheeserounds on top of thegreens, scattering thewalnuts around and serve.Yield: 6-8 servingsSMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL