Salad of Cooked Witlof, Shaved Celery & Roquefort

Name: Salad of Cooked Witlof, Shaved Celery & Roquefort
Yield: Serves 6 as an accompaniment
Cuisine: Australian
Ingredients: 40 ml walnut oil; 1 small onion, sliced; sea salt and freshly ground white pepper; 1.2 litres cold water; 1 bay leaf; a few drops walnut oil; 125 ml dry white wine; 2 strips scrubbed orange zest; 4-5 sprigs thyme; ½ small carrot, sliced; 20 ml crème fraîche; 1 clove garlic, unpeeled and sliced, any green shoot removed; 20 ml grapeseed oil; 50 g walnut kernels, chopped; 6 large witlof, damaged outer leaves discarded, cut in half lengthwise; 100 g Roquefort or Saint Agur blue cheese, crumbled; 3-4 pale inner stalks celery [including leaves], washed and shaved into 3mm-thick slices, leaves torn; juice of ½ lemon; a few black peppercorns, cracked; 60 ml extra virgin olive oil; 3 teaspoons sea salt, or to taste

Preparation info

Serves
6
as an accompaniment

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Salades

By Damien Pignolet

Published 2010

About

Here is a lovely salad to accompany garlic and rosemary-scented roast veal, sauced with a déglaçage of white wine and reduced veal stock. The slight bitterness of the witlof softens as it cooks with the celery, offering a firmer texture and fresh flavour to the dish. The salty Roquefort and unusual vinaigrette make this a very interesting dish. I recommend assembling the salad one hour before serving to allow the flavours to develop. This salad is b