Warm goat's cheese and berry salad

This works fabulously with a bottle of your favourite sauvignon blanc.

Warm goat's cheese and berry salad

• serves

  4

• cook

  30 minutes

Ingredients

12 sliced Melba sourdough bread, toasted (3 per person)

500g Kervela goat's cheese (use any leftover on your toast for breakfast)

1kg fresh or frozen mixed berries (boysenberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries)

1 bunch flat Italian parsley, chopped

4 big handfuls or 1kg mesclun salad

salt, to taste

½ bunch chives, chopped

Berry vinaigrette

4 tablespoons French Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons white vinegar

100ml canola oil

2 pinches sugar

salt, to taste

250g of the mixed berries above, pureed and strained (no seeds)

Instructions

Toss flat leaf parsley with mesclun salad. Arrange mesclun salad on a dinner-sized plate (flat in the middle for the melba toast). Toss the mixed berries (without juice) over the top.

For berry vinaigrette, blend mustard and vinegar, then slowly add oil. Add berry puree and salt and sugar, to taste.

Thickly spread goat's cheese on the Melba toast and heat in a pre-heated oven on 180°C for 7 minutes or place under the grill to warm (the goat's cheese will curdle a little).

Top the salad with the warm Melba toasts and drizzle with berry vinaigrette. Garnish with fresh chopped chives.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.