Bresaola with walnut paste, nectarine, radish cress and roquefort
This dish could just as easily be plated individually as a composed salad, with the cheese broken into chunks, and served as an entree or appetiser.
Ingredients
extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, skin on
50g white bread, crusts removed
about 200ml milk
1 purple (Asian) eschalot, cut in 3mm slices
salt flakes
freshly ground black pepper
pinch of sugar
120g walnuts, toasted (at 170C for about 10 minutes or until golden and fragrant)
1/4 lemon
2 nectarines, cut into sixths
20 slices bresaola (air-cured beef)
100g roquefort cheese
2 handfuls radish cress or mustard cress
about 50ml saba (cooked reduced grape must, also called mosto cotto, from specialist food stores) or substitute vincotto
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C fan-forced or 200C conventional.
2. Place the garlic cloves on a piece of foil, drizzle with a little oil, wrap up and roast until soft - about 20 minutes.
3. Place the bread in a small bowl with enough milk to cover. Set aside for five minutes.
4. Add the eschalot slices to a small bowl with a pinch of salt and sugar. Rub the salt and sugar into the eschalot and set aside - this will soften both the texture and flavour.
5. Squeeze the milk out of the bread and add the bread to a food processor with 50 millilitres of the milk, 100 grams of walnuts (reserve 20 grams to garnish) and the peeled roasted garlic, and blitz to a paste. Season, add a small squeeze of lemon juice and blitz again.
6. Season the nectarines with salt and pepper and toss gently in a little oil.
7. Arrange the bresaola on a serving plate, add the piece of roquefort, dollop on the walnut paste, pile on the nectarines, scatter over the eschalot, whole walnuts and radish cress and drizzle with saba.
Drink: An off-dry German or Australian riesling or a rich pinot gris; dry wines are easily overpowered by blue cheese.
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