Cook the Book: Spinach Salad with Lentils and Crisp Warm Goat Cheese
The recipe that follows has been adapted from Nancy Silverton's A Twist of the Wrist. This is a recipe so easy and so elegant it was a huge hit at a recent dinner party my wife and I threw. And it looks good enough to be served at a fancy-pants restaurant.
Spinach Salad with Lentils and Crisp Warm Goat Cheese
For the goat cheese rounds
11 ounces fresh goat cheese
All-purpose flour, for dredging
1 large egg
1/2 cup panko or breadcrumbs
For the lentils
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, grated or minced (about 1 tablespoon)
Kosher salt
2 fifteen-ounce cans lentils or 1 nineteen-ounce can Progresso lentil soup, rinsed and drained (about 3 cups)
1/2 cup canola oil (or other neutral-flavored oil)
4 cups loosely packed baby spinach leaves
High-quality extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Sea salt
Procedures
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Put about 1/4 cup of flour into a small bowl. Lightly beat the egg in another bowl and pour the pank into a third bowl. Dredge one goat cheese round in the flour, coat it all over, and pat off any excess flour. Next, dip the cheese round into the egg to coat it, then into the panko, pressing the panko onto the cheese to coat all sides. Repeat with the remaining goat cheese rounds. Place all the rounds on a large dinner plate.
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Spoon the lentils into mounds on four plates, dividing them evenly. Drop a handful of spinach in the center of each serving, drizzle with high-quality olive oil, and sprinkle with sea salt. Top each with a round of goat cheese.
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Photograph courtesy Knopf
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