Salad Folle

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• Leaf lettuce, three to four varieties
• 12 small tomatoes, preferably flavorful vine tomatoes
• 100 g smoked goose or duck breast, sliced
• 100 g goose liver pate or duck liver pate, fine
• 50 g pine nuts
• 50 g Parmesan or Pecorino cheese
• some olive oil, cold pressed
• some balsamic vinegar, very good quality
• possibly salt and pepper, freshly ground

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Total time approx. 20 minutes

This festive salad is perfect as a starter before a sumptuous meal during the Christmas season

Suitable leaf salads include lettuce, iceberg lettuce, lollo rosso, lamb’s lettuce, and perhaps arugula. Avoid varieties with an overly bitter or intense flavor, such as endive or chicory. Wash the lettuce, drain, trim, and cut into bite-sized pieces. Reserve a few attractive arugula leaves. Toss the remaining lettuce in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Add a pinch of salt to the vinaigrette to taste, but only a little, as the other ingredients contribute enough flavor. Wash the tomatoes and cut them into eighths. Cut the goose or duck breast into bite-sized strips. Dice the pâté. Toast the pine nuts in a little olive oil in a pan until light brown and remove from the pan immediately. Shave wafer-thin slices of pecorino or parmesan. This is obviously easier with a not-too-hard cheese than with very old, crumbly parmesan. Arrange the lettuce leaves—one for each guest—on very large plates with a wide rim in the center, and arrange the tomato wedges around the edge of the plate. Then, one after the other, arrange a few strips of smoked brisket, a few cubes of pâté, and a few pine nuts on the salad. Garnish with the reserved arugula leaves and the cheese slices. Finally, add a few splashes of balsamic vinegar and a little freshly ground pepper. I like to serve this with a fresh, dry white wine—for example, a Gewürztraminer from Alsace. Note: I prepared and compiled this recipe myself after having a similar salad in a restaurant in Alsace. As on the menu there, the salad is called “Salade Folle” (crazy salad).