This is a salad I once created for a restaurant at which I was a consultant chef, but since the restaurant is no longer operational, I am not in danger of breach of contract by revealing the recipe to you … funnily enough it was not only a favourite amongst the customers, but also the owners who would ask for it to be delivered to their homes every alternate day.
The mustard dominated piquancy of the vinaigrette dressed baby spinach leaves, in consort with the earthy notes of mushroom & mellow yet assertive gorgonzola blue cheese, offset by unctuous dried fig and crisp caramelised nuts could not offer a better (not to mention delicious) journey of textures and balance of flavours … moreover, piled onto a thick slice of oven toasted sourdough bread brushed with extra virgin olive oil, it is even more of a treat.
But before I begin, let me first point out that you will need to knock up a batch of jaggery caramelized nuts, the recipe of which I have already given you (please refer to it in the ‘Treat of the Week’ section), in addition to a batch of vinaigrette, for which the sub- recipe is available within the Hung yoghurt Bocconcini Caprese recipe on ‘Treat of the Week’. The recipe for the Balsamic glaze recipe, with which you will decorate the plate, is available within the Savoury Profiterole recipe on ‘Treat of the Week’ and you will need to make this in advance too.
All that said, first and foremost gather your salad ingredients (IMAGE 1).
Ingredients
YIELD: 2 portions
- 75g organic baby spinach leaves (Pindi Fruit Mart, 28A Defence Colony Market, New Delhi)
- 100g gorgonzola cheese (Nature’s Soul Store, 27 Defence Colony Market New Delhi)
- 200g ordinary button (aka Paris) mushrooms
- 2 dried figs
- 8 jaggery caramelised nuts (mix of pecans & walnuts or one or the other)
- 2 tablespoons microgreens (available at both the aforementioned stores)
- 4 tablespoons vinaigrette
- 2 slices of ¼ inch thick sourdough toast.
Next you are going to wash (STEP 1), dry (STEP 2) and slice your mushrooms relatively thick as shown below (STEPS 3 & 4). Then melt at least 35g of ordinary salted Amul butter in a pan, add 35ml ordinary cooking oil (STEP 5) and once it is sizzling (STEP 6), add the mushrooms, turn down the heat to low, and saute (STEP 7), continuously turning with a wooden spoon until they are golden brown and dried out (STEP 8). Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and let cool in a bowl (STEP 9).
Now, you will wash and dry the spinach and micro-herbs in bottled water diluted with apple cider vinegar – 4 parts water to 1 part ACV (STEP 10), chop each fig into 6 pieces (STEP 11), slice the sourdough (1/4 inch thick approximately) & oven toast (in a preheated oven of 90°C, bottom convection heating setting, 10mins on each side) – in this case I bought the rustic rye sourdough from Defence Bakery, 34 A, Defence colony market, New Delhi (STEPS 12 TO 15). Then crumble your gorgonzola cheese (STEPS 16 & 17).
And now onto the finale … first toss your mushrooms and spinach together in a large bowl (STEP 1), add 4 tablespoons of vinaigrette and toss again (STEPS 2 & 3). Then place a slice of toasted sourdough in the centre of your serving plate (STEP 4) & brush it generously with extra virgin olive oil (STEPS 5 & 6).
Then pile the spinach, mushroom salad on to the toast (STEP 7), then dot it with the figs (STEP 8), then the gorgonzola cheese (STEP 9), and finally the nuts (STEP 10); then drizzle the balsamic vinegar around the plate (STEP 11), garnish the salad with some micro-herbs and serve this delightful light lunch of a toasted sourdough salad! (FINAL IMAGE)
Above: Final Image