August Recipes: Warm Goat's Cheese & Honey Roasted Apricot Salad
- Felicity Vincent
- Aug 16, 2024
- 5 min read
My take on the classic French goat's cheese salad recipe
Toasted bread topped with warm goat's cheese, served with honey and rosemary roasted apricots, walnuts and a mustardy salad with classic French vinaigrette.
This salad is the perfect summer lunch with its anti-inflammatory and mood boosting ingredients. A quick and easy recipe inspired by classic french cuisine, it's both delicious and nutritious.
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Ingredients (serves 2):
Warm goat's cheese and apricot salad recipe:
100g soft rind goat's cheese
3 apricots
35g walnut halves
1 sprig of rosemary
50g stale bread
80g romaine lettuce / baby gem lettuce
30g rocket leaves
1 tsp honey
1 tsp dried thyme / herbes de Provence
S&p
French vinaigrette recipe:
2 Tbs rapeseed oil or EVOO
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
S&p
Method:
How to make the warm goat's cheese and apricot salad:
Preheat the oven at 200°C.
Toast the walnut halves in a dry pan on medium heat for 2 minutes. They should warm up and start to brown, this will release their natural oil and flavour.
Transfer the walnuts to a chopping board and roughly chop them into smaller pieces.
Slice the goat's cheese into 6 round slices (approximately 1 inch thick).
Halve the apricots and remove their stones.
Divide the rosemary sprig into 6 pieces.
Cut the stale bread into thin slices, slightly larger than the size of the goat's cheese slices.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay the bread slices out flat and top each one with a slice of goat's cheese. Lay out the apricot slices next to them on the baking sheet. Top each goat's cheese toast with a sprinkle of Herbes de Provence (or dried thyme) and black pepper. Top each apricot half with a rosemary piece and a drizzle of honey.
Place the baking sheet in the oven and roast for 20 minutes.
In the meantime, wash the salad and roughly chop the romaine leaves into bite-size pieces.
Make the vinaigrette as per below.
Dress the salad with the vinaigrette, toss in most of the walnuts and stir until all is evenly coated.
Plate up and top each salad with 3 warm goat's cheese toasts and apricot halves (removing the rosemary sprigs).
Finish with a final garnish of walnuts on top of the goat's cheese salad and enjoy.
Bon appétit!
How to make a classic French vinaigrette:
Add all the ingredients to a bowl and whisk until emulsified into a smooth and thick consistency.
Taste and adjust the seasoning if required.
If you have an empty jar of dijon mustard, with a bit left on the sides that you can't scrape off, just add the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper to the jar, close the lid and shake vigorously. This will allow you to use up that little bit of mustard leftover, add 1 Tbs water if needed to really get it all off the sides.
More about this apricot recipe:
Keys to success:
This is a very easy recipe, but feel free to drop any questions you have in the comments section!
Health benefits of apricots:
They're a good source of:
vitamin A (carotenoids) which supports the immune system and contributes to eye and skin health.
They also contain:
vitamin C which supports bone and cell health, the immune system, as well as enabling wound healing;
potassium which helps the function of our heart muscle and balance of bodily fluids, in combination with their fibre content this will also help you stay regular;
soluble fibre which helps lower blood cholesterol, and slows the release of energy from food. It also helps bulk stools with water and serves as a prebiotic, meaning it feeds our gut bacteria for a healthy microbiome.
insoluble fibre - helps to make you feel full, and soften stools for better digestive health. It is also associated with phenolic compounds with antioxidant properties.
Like many other summer fruit we've learnt about these past few months, apricots get their colour from carotenoids.
An important one found in apricots is lutein which has been proven to support eye health. It may slow down the affects of age-related vision loss and cataracts. Its anti-inflammatory properties may also support cognitive function and a decreased risk of cancers and cardiovascular diseases.
They contain antioxidants, notably polyphenols such as the phenolic acids chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid and naringenin and the flavonoids quercetin, kaempferol and rutin.
All these antioxidants scavenge free radicals to slow down physical signs of ageing, reduce subjective cognitive decline, and prevent certain types of cancers and CVDs.
Chlorogenic acid has strong anti-inflammatory properties which contribute to brain and heart health. Early studies show promising affects on type 2 diabetes symptoms and preventing strokes.
Caffeic acid is another strong anti-inflammatory with anti-tumor properties and promising signs towards the prevention of osteoporosis.
Aside from its antioxidant properties, naringenin has also been shown to support in blocking pain caused by inflammation.
Kaempferol in particular shows a positive association with reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases. Early studies have linked it to anti-diabetic properties, and some animal studies have even shown they block the build up of beta-amyloid plaque in the brain which leads to Alzheimer's disease.
As mentioned above, apricots contain fibre to support our gut bacteria and prevent certain types of cancer. But they also contains sorbitol which gives it some of its sweet taste. This sugar alcohol has a low GI and is not absorbed in the small intestine, therefore it can reach the large intestine to feed some of our gut bacteria which in turn supports body function and mental health. It also has some laxative effect and therefore should not be consumed excessively.
Apricots have been shown in animal studies to help reduce stomach inflammation, inhibit tumour formation, and reduce the incidence or liver and heart diseases.
Mood Food - Focus:
Low GI - they maintain a steady release of energy to the brain over a prolonged period of time;
Vitamin C - involved in converting dopamine to noradrenaline which will make you feel more awake and alert;
Prebiotic polyphenols - among other benefits, our microbiome convert them to tryptophan (precursor to the good mood hormone serotonin);
Hopefully this makes you excited to try this and many other apricot recipes during its season!
You can find lots of ideas on how to cook with apricots in my newsletter: https://felicityvincent.substack.com/
Full Video:
Cook along with this step-by-step video and learn how to make my tomato tart recipe.
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