Michel Roux Jr's stilton salad
Michel Roux Jr's stilton salad.
(Image credit: Michel Roux Jr)

This light salad is refreshingly crisp and a delightfully crunchy addition to any meal. Packed with delicate and aromatic flavours perfect for those sunnier days; I find the blue cheese perfectly complements the beautiful aniseed flavours in the fennel and the pine nuts add a gorgeous crunch and sweetness to the dish.

Stilton salad with fennel and pine nuts

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • ½ bunch of flat parsley (approx. 15g)
  • ½ bunch of chives
  • ¼ bunch of coriander
  • 2 large bulbs of fennel
  • 30g pine nuts
  • 70g Stilton
  • 1 Tsp aged balsamic vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • Salt and Pepper

Method

  1. Pick the best looking leaves off the parsley and coriander bunch and place them in large bowl with ice cold water.
  2. Rinse the fennel bulbs before finely slicing them lengthways; using a mandolin will make your life a lot easier (but be careful of your fingers).
  3. Place all the fennel shavings in the iced water together with the freshly picked herbs in order to crisp up. After a couple of minutes dry everything off in a salad spinner.
  4. Give a quick rinse to the chives and slice into small 1cm “sticks”.
  5. Throw the pine nuts in a dry frying pan and cook over a medium to low heat, stirring frequently until golden brown. After 3 to 4 minutes remove the nuts from the heat and leave to cool down on a paper towel.
  6. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, lemon juice and olive oil with a pinch of salt and pepper.
  7. Pour the dressing all over the fennel salad and mix well. Delicately crumble the stilton on top of the salad and sprinkle the pine nuts and chives all over.

Matching wines

The aniseed flavour of this salad has a pronounced affinity with Muscadet. Intense and grown-up in flavour, I suggest a Domaine la Haute Févrie, Gras Moutons, Muscadet Sèvre et Maine sur Lie 2013. This reasonable white wine from the Loire region is full of subtle smoky aromas perfect to match this rustic salad.

For another classic pairing with fennel why not try a Marc Dudet, Pouilly Fuissé 2009? This light Chardonnay portrays Burgundian minerality at its best. Although a little more mature, this wine is still crisp and fresh just like this salad.

Fennel is one of the handfuls of vegetables that particularly suit Italian white wines. I personally enjoy a La Monacesca, Mirum, Verdicchio di Matelica Riserva, Marche 2012. This perfectly balanced white wine is bursting with smoky and nutty flavours, hence the perfect match for rich blue cheese.

Wines to drink with stilton salad with fennel and pine nuts

Domaine la Haute Févrie, Gras Moutons, Muscadet Sèvre et Maine sur Lie 2013

The crisp, light flavours of this wine work perfectly with this summery and fresh salad. Delicate citrus notes of grapefruit, this white has great length and rich mineral undertones.

RRP : £11.95 from Berry Bros & Rudd

Marc Dudet, Pouilly Fuissé 2009

Beautifully light on the palette with delicate peachy overtones, this Chardonnay is fruity with subtle nutty notes that complement the pine nuts and aromatic flavours of the fennel.

RRP : £14.74 from Vivino

La Monacesca, Mirum, Verdicchio di Matelica Riserva, Marche 2012

Full of body and rich in flavour, the depth of this wine makes it the perfet partner to the strong falvours f the stilton and fennel. Lemony and fresh, this white is smoky and nutty on the nose but balanced with a honey sweetness.

RRP : £21.20 from Berry Bro & Rudd

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Spelt risotto, Michel Roux Jr, Decanter recipe

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Spelt risotto, sprouting broccoli and parmesan crisp – recipe by Michel Roux Jr

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Brioche and butter pudding – recipe by Michel Roux Jr

Michel Roux Jr
Michel Roux Jr
Columnist
Michel Roux Jr was born in 1960 in Pembury, Kent, where his father Albert Roux worked as a private chef for the Cazalet family. His earliest food memories are the smells of the Fairlawne kitchen – pastry, sugar caramelizing and stews – where he played under the table while his father and mother Monique prepared the meals. After deciding to follow in his father’s footsteps, he left school at 16 for the first of several challenging apprenticeships at Maître Patissier, Hellegouarche in Paris from 1976 to 1979. He was then Commis de Cuisine at Alain Chapel’s signature restaurant at Mionay near Lyon, Michel’s biggest influence. His military service was spent in the kitchens at the Elysée Palace at the time of Presidents Giscard d’Estaing and François Mitterrand. He also spent time at Boucherie Lamartine and Charcuterie Mothu in Paris, and the Gavers Restaurant in London. After a stint at the Mandarin Hotel in Hong Kong he returned to London and worked at La Tante Claire before joining the family business. He took over running Le Gavroche in 1991, gradually changing the style of cooking to his own – classic French with a lighter, modern twist. Michel opened Roux at Parliament Square in May 2010 with Restaurant Associates, part of the Compass Group UK and Ireland. And in November 2010, he opened Roux at The Landau at London’s prestigious luxury hotel, The Langham. Michel was a judge and presenter on the BBC’s popular prime time show, MasterChef: The Professionals, and presented all series of ‘Great British Food Revival.’  Michel fronted BBC2’s ‘Food and Drink,’ in 2014 and presented a documentary on Escoffier, whose revolutionary approach to fine cuisine has inspired Michel and many others. In the same year, Michel went on a journey to create the perfect chocolate for the Le Gavroche Kitchen.  Filmed by the BBC, in Paris he discovered chocolatiers, Cacao Barry and their Or Noir Lab. In 2013, Michel launched his most recent cookbook, ‘The French Kitchen’.  Focusing on traditional French home cooking, this is the fifth solo cookery book from Michel. He is involved with the Roux Experience courses at the ‘Cactus Kitchens’ cookery school, with the Executive producer of Saturday Kitchen, Amanda Ross. Cactus Kitchens offers people the opportunity to learn to cook within small intimate groups from some of the UK’s finest chefs, on site above the Saturday Kitchen studios. Michel has fronted a brand new four-part Channel 4 series, ‘The Diner’, exploring the hurdles faced by people with disabilities and mental health issues when finding employment. Michel also recently presented a new program on his first ever project with the Disney Channel.  ‘First Class Chefs’ which launched in June 2015, is a show where kids aged 9-11 compete to showcase their restaurant skills.