Warm salad of leeks with ravioli of goats' cheese, quails' eggs and balsamic vinegar
Ingredients
(serves four)
For salad:
20 baby leeks
Various salad leaves eg wild rocket chard curly endive
12 branches chervil
1 finely chopped shallot
1 bunch chives chopped - saving tips
2tbs balsamic vinegar
6tbs grapeseed oil
3tbs white truffle oil
12 quails' eggs (softly poached)
Coarse sea salt
Milled black pepper
For ravioli:
4oz/120g pasta dough
5oz/150g goats' cheese
2 eggs
3oz/90g soft white breadcrumbs
4 leaves basil
4 leaves flat parsley
Method
Cook leeks in boiling salted water until tender - refresh dry and set aside.
Purée together all ravioli ingredients except pasta then chill.
Roll pasta as thinly as possible and make up four raviolis (each about 6cms in diameter) using the purée. Blanch in boiling water for about a minute refresh and set aside.
Plunge leeks into boiling salted water then drain. Toss them with a third of both oils and balsamic vinegar add half the chopped chives and shallots and season.
Put a tall cutter (about 4cm wide 4 deep) on each plate and line with the leeks in rings starting from the base trying to alternate with dark and light rings.
Dress salad leaves in another third of both oils and balsamic add remaining chives and shallots plus tomato.
Fill the centre of the leek tower with some of the dressed leaves. Plunge raviolis and quails' eggs into boiling salted water for about 45 seconds. Arrange three quails' eggs and some of the salad leaves on each plate and drizzle remaining oil and balsamic around each plate. Sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper and a few branches of chervil.
Gently remove the cutters. Place a ravioli on top of each leek tower and garnish with a curly endive and some chive tips.