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    Home » Recipes » Salads

    French Country Salad

    Published: Apr 23, 2020 · Modified: Aug 24, 2023 by In Fine Taste · This post may contain affiliate links

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    French Country Salad on Large Platter. title

    Our Country French Salad is one of the most colorful, flavorful salads you could dream of! We combine red and yellow fresh roasted beets, with roasted asparagus, fresh spring greens, candied pecans and smooth soft goat cheese. Best of all, it's tossed with our tangy lemon thyme vinaigrette. Can you say flavor explosion?

    Cheesecake Factory copycat

    Some say this is the best green salad in the world. We love the French Country Salad at The Cheesecake Factory and decided to try and recreate it at home. At the restaurant, they use a champagne balsamic vinaigrette. You can purchase something similar at your local market, or try our delicious lemon thyme vinaigrette, a lemon garlic salad dressing that does a remarkable job dressing this salad!

    closeup candied pecans, asparagus, beets

    How to roast asparagus in the oven

    Start with prepping the veggies. Trim tough ends from the asparagus and cut in two inch long pieces. Toss the asparagus with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and spread it on a baking sheet. You want to roast it just 4 to 5 minutes.

    close up goat cheese, asparagus beets.

    Roasting beets in the oven

    To liven the color of this salad, we like using both red and yellow beets.

    1. Wash the beets.
    2. Wrap them individually in foil.
    3. Roast them in the oven about 45 minutes.
    4. Once their cooled, unwrap them and rub the skin off  with a paper towel.
    5. Slice beets, then dice and chill until ready to serve.

    How to toast and sugar pecans

    Sugared pecans add crunch and a sweet/savory finish to the salad. It's so easy to throw the pecan halves and sugar into a hot frying pan and toast them as the sugar melts. This is an easy and effective method to add some excitement to many salads.

    close up goat cheese in French Country Salad

    And some goat cheese

    Goat cheese has a mild flavor and creamy texture. It's too soft to "chop" so we either crumble it at the end or form little ball-like pieces.

    ingredients for Lemon Thyme Vinaigrette

    Toss it with lemon thyme vinaigrette

    Our salad dressing for the French Country Salad is a fun one. If you like Meyer lemon vinaigrette, lemon basil vinaigrette, or lemon shallot vinaigrette, your going to love this dressing. Have you ever tried a "whole lemon" dressing? This dressing literally has an entire lemon in it!

    chopped lemons and lemon thyme vinaigrette

    How to make whole lemon dressing

    You chop the lemon up in tiny pieces and mix it with the other ingredients -- fresh lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper and thyme. It is really yummy. Catching little bites of lemon here and there is like finding little surprises! It's even better the next day with the fresh lemon has mellowed.

    Salad Tongs ready to serve French Country Salad

    Put it all together!

    Next comes the exciting part with you take all the different sections of the salad and bring them together! We like to toss the asparagus and spring greens together with the dressing until everything is coated just a bit. Then garnish with beets, pecans and goat cheese. Take note not to mix the goat cheese too much or it'll get pasty.

    And that's all folks! Follow the easy directions and you'll have a masterpiece! If you're looking for a new green salad recipe, this salad is well loved. Lots of good nutrients and lots of flavor! We hope you'll try it.

    Enjoy!

    Dianna

    Check out these other salad recipes!

    Strawberry Spinach Salad

    Sensation Salad

    Pear Salad w/Pomegranate, toasted almonds, avocado & bleu cheese

    Cherry Salad with Gorgonzola and Toasted Almonds

    Classic Greek Salad and Vinaigrette

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    French Country Salad on Large Platter. title

    French Country Salad

    Roasted beets and asparagus tossed with greens, goat cheese, sugared pecans and lemon thyme vinaigrette create a colorful salad bursting with flavor.
    4.41 from 5 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Salads
    Cuisine: French
    Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes
    Servings: 6 servings
    Calories: 402kcal
    Author: Dianna--In Fine Taste

    Ingredients

    SALAD

    • 6-8 cups Spring mix
    • ½ bunch Asparagus roasted
    • 1 cup red beets roasted (about 1 large beet)
    • 1 cup yellow beets roasted (about 1 large beet)
    • 6 ounces Goat cheese crumbled
    • ½ cup Pecans sugared

    Whole Lemon & Thyme Vinaigrette

    • 1 small lemon; minced
    • ½ cup olive oil
    • ¼ cup Fresh lemon juice
    • 3 cloves garlic; minced
    • 1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
    • 1 Tablespoon fresh Thyme, minced (or 1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme leaves)
    • ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
    • ½ teaspoon sea salt
    • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions

    For the Asparagus

    • Trim tough ends from asparagus. Preheat oven to 400° Fahrenheit. Cut the asparagus into 2-inch long pieces.
    • Toss asparagus with 1 Tablespoon olive oil. Spread the asparagus out onto the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt.
    • Roast for 4 to 5 minutes, until the asparagus is tender but still has a bite. Cool asparagus and set aside.

    To Roast Beets

    • Wash beets.Wrap individually in foil.Place in 375 degree Fahrenheit oven for 45 minutes. Cool slightly, then rub skin off cooked beats with a paper towel. Slice beets, then dice and chill until ready to serve.

    To Sugar Pecans

    • Heat a frying pan to medium high heat. Add pecans and 2 Tablespoons sugar and stir until sugar melts. Pour pecans out on to foil, lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Let cool.

    For Whole Lemon & Thyme Vinaigrette

    • Wash lemon; slice it; then mince in tiny pieces with a sharp knife. Mix lemon with other ingredients in jar with tight fitting lid. Shake until all ingredients are well blended. Pour over salad and toss until all pieces are coated.

    Dressing is best the next day.To Assemble

    • Toss greens and asparagus with vinaigrette until everything is lightly coated in dressing. Garnish salad with beets, goat cheese and pecans.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1g | Calories: 402kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 23g | Cholesterol: 13mg | Sodium: 481mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 8g
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    originally published April 23, 2020

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