Recipe: Toasted goats cheese salad (France)

This simple starter is just the thing with a cool glass of Sancerre – we enjoyed it last with Collines Blanches by Domaines Hubert Brochard but Aujourd'Hui Comme Autrefois would be just as good a match.

This makes enough to start a meal for four people – but feel free to go a bit bigger and serve as a larger supper instead of a main course.

That way you'll have more time free to enjoy the company (and wine).

INGREDIENTS

4 x generous slices of goats cheese (fresh Crottin de Chavignol if you can get it but goats log is fine too)

Salad leaves

3 x tablespoons white wine vinegar

150ml vegetable oil

1 x teaspoon French mustard

Squeeze of lemon juice

METHOD

1. Put cheese on piece of kitchen foil under a hot grill.
2. Put vinegar, oil, mustard and lemon juice in a jar or plastic container with secure lid and shake vigorously until amalgamated.
3. Pour dressing over salad leaves and mix well, dividing between four serving plates.
4. Top with the cheese once it is bubbling under the grill.

Et voila! Flavoursome and intensely satisfying, just like the Sancerre you choose to serve it with.