This Camembert, Beet, Artichoke Salad marries wonderful French flavors
Gourmet Rustic French Salad Course
Camembert, Beet, Artichoke Salad
Brian and Lynda were the co-creators of this Camembert, Beet, Artichoke salad featured at our Rustic French meal. For a petite salad it boasts an amazing array of flavors and textures. Sauteed marinated artichokes and beets serve as a warm base for the salad.
Then salad greens, fresh basil and edamame are simply dressed with lemon juice and olive oil and scattered over the artichokes and beets. Camembert cheese, which has been warmed to a wonderfully gooey stage, is spooned onto the greens. The salad is then finished with a drizzle of the balsamic & Dijon used to saute the beets and a sprinkle of toasted pine nuts.
Or was it finished? Brian and Lynda didn’t think so! They decided to take things up a notch and add a fried quail egg. Aren’t these quail eggs the cutest little things? While frying up an egg seems like a simple task, you actually need to cut these eggs open vs. crack them. This video shows how that’s done.
On to frying up the cute little buggers…..
I did mention this is GOURMET Group, right? Not the recipes we make every day. Instead, these are the recipes we make because they sound good and we’re curious culinary types. But don’t be intimidated by this recipe. Without the quail eggs, it’s fairly easy to make. That said, the sauteed artichokes, beets and baked cheese puts this in more of a special occasion category.
Lynda and Brian, the dynamic salad duo, are explaining their delightful creation to us before we partake.
Camembert, Beet, Artichoke Salad
Ingredients
- 7 ounces Camembert cheese, in box
- 4 whole precooked, peeled beets
- 14 ounces marinated artichokes, drained
- 5 ounces cooked edamame
- 1 bunch fresh basil, torn into pieces
- 2 lemons
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 5 ounces mixed baby salad green
- 3 1/2 ounces toasted pine nuts
- 4 quail eggs optional
- kosher salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove wrapper and cut rind off the top of the Camembert. Place the cheese in box with the cover off. Place box on a baking sheet and bake for approximately 15 minutes, or until soft. Keep a close eye on it so it doesn’t run all over the baking sheet,
- Pour 2 tbsp of oil into saute pan and saute artichokes until lightly browned on all sides. Add a squeeze of lemon and salt and pepper to taste before removing from the pan and assembling onto a serving dish.
- Slice the beets into bite sized pieces. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in saute pan at medium-high heat. Saute beets with the balsamic vinegar and the Dijon mustard, allowing beets to warm through before spooning onto the platter with the artichokes. Reserve the balsamic & Dijon vinaigrette.
- Put the edamame into a bowl along with the juice of remaining lemon, torn basil and 1 tbsp of olive oil. Squash edamame with the back of a fork. Mix in the salad greens. Scatter greens over artichokes and beets.
- If using, fry quail eggs, sunny side up in nonstick frying pan coated with nonstick cooking spray.
- Remove the melted cheese in the box from the oven and spoon gooey cheese over top of salad. Place 1 fried quail egg on each salad.
- Drizzle salad with reserved balsamic/Dijon vinaigrette. Sprinkle with toasted pine nuts and add a few generous grinds of pepper.
Your salad sounds amazing. I found the Quail eggs fascinating.
I was fascinated by the quail eggs too!