Yield: 6 servings
Preparation: 1 hour
Cook: 12 minutes
Bake: 13 minutes
Ingredients:
1 cup pecan halves
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter
9 ounces French chevre (goat's milk cheese)
1/2 butternut squash, peeled and bottom round section removed
3 tablespoons turbinado sugar
6 heads frisee lettuce, washed well and dried
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup fig balsamic vinegar
Garnish: fresh herbs such as chervil sprigs or chive batons
Procedure:
PREHEAT oven to 350°.
TOAST pecans on a baking sheet for 7 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.
IN A MEDIUM SAUTE PAN. melt sugar carefully over medium heat for 10 to 12 minutes, or until it reaches caramel stage. Add butter and pecan halves, stirring with a wooden spoon until incorporated. Immediately pour onto a baking sheet, spread out evenly, and let cool. When pralines have cooled, break into pieces and pulse in a food processor until they are a fine powder. Set aside.
USING YOUR HANDS, roll chevre into 1-inch balls, approximately 1/2 ounce each. Place praline powder
in a bowl and roll goat-cheese balls in powder one at a time. Coat well with praline powder and reserve
until ready to serve.
PREHEAT broiler.
USING A MANDOLIN ON THE THINNEST SETTING, cut butternut squash into thin strips. Using a knife, square off squash slices until they are perfect rectangles. Line about 5 strips of squash side by side for each salad on a small foil-covered broiler pan. Coat squash strips lightly with turbinado sugar.
PLACE squash strips about 6 inches from the broiler and roast for 5 to 6 minutes, or until sugar is melted and squash is brown around the edges. Transfer 5 strips to each of six serving plates.
TO ASSEMBLE SALAD, toss frisee in a bowl, seasoning well with salt and pepper and lightly dressing with
olive oil and fig balsamic. Place a small mound of lettuce in the center of each plate. Place 3 goat-cheese balls on each plate around lettuce, and drizzle salad with fig balsamic.
GARNISH with chervil sprigs or chive batons, if desired.
Submitted By: MiLa
Magazine: Taste of the South
Recipe Author: MiLa
Original Photograph By: MiLa/Taste of the South
Photograph Retouched By: Recipe Spy
Restaurant: MiLa, 817 Common Street, New Orleans
Source: http://www.mrbsbistro.com/articles/tasteofthesouth.pdf