Roquefort salad with warm croutons & lardons
Roquefort is a fantastic cheese, with a great story behind it. A few hundred years ago there was a guy out in the forest eating some cheese, when a foxy chick walked past. Not wanting to miss out, he threw his cheese into a cave to keep it safe and ran after the girl. He returned a few weeks later to retrieve his cheese and found it had gone mouldy, but in a good way, and had really matured. Ever since then, proper authentic Roquefort has to be aged in those same stone caves of Mont Combalou at Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. Genius! This salad really shows off the Roquefort, and several other great French ingredients, most of which can be found without any trouble here in the UK. It's worth getting the smoked bacon from the butcher so you have lovely extra-large hand-cut lardons for this. The kick-ass mustard dressing adds a bit of flair at the end, and ultimately, this salad is my homage to my dear French friends and that lucky man from all those years ago who invented such a great cheese and hopefully had one of the best bunk-ups of his life!
Estimated Nutrition (whole recipe, rough)
Counts 13 of 14 ingredients — the other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and contribute nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume — 13 portions →
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Olive Oil | 1 tbsp (14g) | 119 |
| Roquefort Cheese | 1 oz (28g) cheddar | 113 |
| Sourdough | 1 slice (36g) | 93 |
| Bacon | 1 slice cooked (8g) | 43 |
| Walnut | 1 walnut half (4g) | 26 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Lettuce | 1 cup shredded (36g) | 5 |
| Watercress | 1 cup (34g) | 4 |
| Vinegar | 1 tbsp (15ml) distilled | 3 |
| Mustard | 1 tsp (5g) yellow | 3 |
| Chives | 1 tbsp (3g) | 1 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Radicchio | not in our table | 0 |
Totals for the whole recipe, adding one typical portion per ingredient — listed above. Quantities in the recipe are not counted, so this is a rough guide only — not suitable for medical or dietary planning.
Ingredients
- olive oil
- 250 g piece higher-welfare smoked bacon, rind removed
- 2 thick slices sourdough bread, cut into 1cm pieces
- 4 large handfuls lamb's lettuce, watercress or rocket, washed and spun dry
- 2 large handfuls radicchio, washed and spun dry
- 1 large handful shelled walnut halves, sliced
- 1 bunch fresh chives, finely chopped
- 100 g Roquefort cheese
- 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper