Goat Cheese And Pancetta Salad
Why I Love This Recipe
This is a modified version of a recipe by Michael Chiarello I picked up a couple of years ago. Originally calling for cider vinegar, porcini oil and dried sour cherries soaked in water. I am not a sour cherry fan unless they are in pie, cranberries however are delicious and why waste an opportunity to add a little kick to your salad by soaking your dried fruit in SOME sort of alcohol.
Ingredients You'll Need
1/4 cup dried Unsweetened Cranberries
Orange Muscat, Moscato or Muscat Canelli to soak fruit
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 oz pancetta, diced
1 TB chopped Garlic
1 TB chopped fresh Thyme leaves
Fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup Champagne Vinegar
2 TB White Truffle Infused Olive oil
Kosher Salt
6 cups mixed baby greens
6 ounces fresh goat cheese (Chevre) I usually use SilverGoat Brand
Directions
In a small bowl, macerate dried cranberries in Moscato or Muscat Canelli. Set aside to soften.
Pour 1 TB olive oil into a medium skillet over medium heat.
Add pancetta and sauté until the fat is rendered out, drain pancetta reserving 1 TB of fat from the pan.
Add 2 TB Olive oil to the skillet & increase the heat to medium-high.
Sauté Pancetta again until the Pancetta is crispy then add the garlic and sauté a little longer until the garlic becomes golden.
Turn heat down to medium-low and add the thyme and 10 – 15 grinds of black pepper.
Then deglaze the pan with Champagne vinegar, be sure to scrape the pan to release the fond.
Reduce vinegar by half.
Remove from heat and whisk in the Truffle oil and a pinch of Kosher Salt.
Put mixed baby greens in a salad bowl.
Crumble goat cheese over the greens.
Pour Pancetta mixture over greens and toss quickly, just until the greens begin to wilt.
Drain cranberries and add to the salad and toss again.
Serve immediately.
