Mixed Lettuces with Roasted Cherries, Hazelnuts & Warm Saint-Marcellin
- About 24 hazelnuts (3/4 ounce, or a scant 1/4 cup)
- 16 ripe cherries (about 6 ounces), such as Bing, Van, Larian, or Burlat
- About 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- A few splashes of kirsch or grappa (optional)
- About 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- Salt
- 2 wheels Saint-Marcellin cheese (about 3 ounces each) at room temperature
- 4 to 5 mixed young lettuces, such a red oak leaf, red perella, and baby red romaine, carefully washed and dried
- 4 slices chewy, peasant-style bread
- Preheat the oven to 325.
- Roast the hazelnuts on a small baking sheet until the skins darken and start to split, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and turn the oven up to 400.
- While the nuts are still hot, bundle them in a towel beanbag-style, then scrunch and massage them to rub off most of their skins.
- Pick out the nuts and coarsely chop.
- Rub the cherries with a few drops of olive oil, and season with a few drops of the optional alcohol and a pinch of salt.
- Combine the oil, vinegar, and salt to taste.
- Add another few drops of kirsch or grappa, if you like, and taste again.
- Place the cheeses on squares of parchment paper and place, with the cherries, on a sheet pan (the cherries might roll off a cookie sheet).
- Roast until the fruit is near to bursting and the cheese is beginning to slouch, about 6 minutes.
- If your cheese is riper than described in the headnote, it may begin oozing fairly rapidly and you may need to remove it before it is hot throughout.
- Dress the lettuces and hazelnuts very skimpily in the vinaigrette and arrange the leaves on plates, leaving the nuts behind for the moment.
- Garnish with the warm cherries and nest a half of the warm cheese next to each salad.
- (If you are using Banon, you can remove the chestnut leaves first.)
- Sprinkle the hazelnuts over the top of the salads.
- Offer toasted peasant-style bread.
cherries, extra virgin olive oil, grappa, red wine vinegar, salt, wheels saint, mixed young lettuces, chewy
Taken from www.cookstr.com/recipes/mixed-lettuces-with-roasted-cherries-hazelnuts-amp-warm-saint-marcellin (may not work)