This is a recipe from Rachel Khoo's first English cook book "The Little Paris Kitchen" a side project to the BBC series by the same name aired earlier this year.
She makes this winter salad as a starter for four, but it can work just as well as a main for two. Her recipes are a great inside to traditional French cooking with a twist of English'ness and a contemporary "let's make it a bit easier or lighter". I have to say though that some of her quantities doesn't always add up, f.ex. in this recipes the goats cheese mousse is such a large portion it would be enough for 10-12 people! So we have adjusted the recipe down a bit and added a our own tips and tricks. I do know that it's hard to make super small portions so this one also leaves you a bit of left over mousse. No harm, it will last in the fridge for a couple of days.
Warning! It might look light but for two this is a nice filling meal, as you get the earthy heavy taste from the roasted vegetables and the mousse is not on the light side either.
For two for dinner you will need (or four as a starter):
4 carrots (if you can get multicoloured once it always enhances the visual experience)
2 parsnips
1/2 a beetroot
2 dessert apples
2 tbsp sunflower oil
salt
100 g lardons or thickly cut smoked bacon
2 handful of frisee salad, or any salad but frisee is nice crunchy and has a slight bitter taste that goes well with the sweetness of this dish
For the mousse:
100g Selles-sur-Cher cheese (goats cheese coated in edible ash, but any soft goats cheese could work)
4 tbsp milk
125 ml whipping cream
Vinaigrette:
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper
--
Cut the vegetables into bite size chunks, wait with the apple, toss the cut vegetable in a roasting tin with the sunflower oil and a generous pinch or two of salt (it can be a good idea to cut the beetroot sepearately and toss with a little oil and salt and lay on top of the rest of the vegs to avoid it couring everything pink). Roast for 25 min in a 200 degree hot oven after the 25 min add the cored and quartered apples to the tin and roast for another 20 min until tender and golden.
Meanwhile make the mousse. Beat the cheese with the milk until you have a smooth creamy texture. Whip the cream to stiff peaks. Add one quarter of the whipped cream to the cheese mixture and mix together, then carefully fold in the rest of the whipped cream. Transfer the mousse to a piping bag with a 1cm plain nozzle and leave in the fridge. It can be done in advance as it will keep for a couple of days.
Make the Vinaigratte by mixing oil, vinegar and salt to taste.
Just as the vegetables finish cooking toss the lardons/bacon into a hot pan and fry untill crisp.
To serve, arrange the roasted vegetables and apples on two plates, scatter the lardons/bacon on top. In a separate bowl mix the salad leaves with half the vinaigrette, drizzle the other half over the two plates of roasted vegs. Now pipe blobs of the mousse randomly around the plate and place a few salad leaves on top.
