In France, dinner guests enjoy their salad at the end of a meal, rather than as an appetizer or side dish. For dessert, you might enjoy a selection of cheeses. In this cheese salad recipe, Chef Dominique Crenn combines those two traditions into a beautiful finale to her tasting menu.

Dominique Crenn’s Cheese Salad Recipe 

[Dominique Crenn](https://www.masterclass.com/classes/dominique-crenn-teaches-modern-vegetarian-cooking) is an award-winning chef and advocate for sustainability and equity in the culinary world. Though she is now among the world’s most celebrated chefs, her path to culinary greatness was not without its challenges. After being turned away from many French culinary schools due to antiquated opinions about female chefs, Chef Crenn set out for California, where she forged her own culinary identity rooted in personhood, memories, and mindfulness. 

In San Francisco, Chef Crenn opened Atelier Crenn, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant where diners receive a poem instead of a menu, with each dish represented by a line of poetry. Chef Crenn describes her [food philosophy](https://www.masterclass.com/articles/dominique-crenn-on-food-philosophy) as “poetic culinaria.”
People have been crafting cheese for thousands of years, but each cheese is the expression of a moment in culinary culture. With this cheese course, Chef Crenn encourages you to savor the particularity of your time and place. 

This recipe demonstrates how to modernize the traditional finish to a good French meal by aerating a semisoft cheese and decorating it with a deconstructed green salad. Be sure to bring your own sensibility and environment to this dish by exploring the cheeses made in your own region and finding the flavors that speak to you. Taste the greens at your local farmers’ market, and trim them with all of the attention of a bonsai artist. The flavors of this dish will vary with the seasons, but the techniques are usable year-round. 

Once you’ve made Chef Crenn’s cheese salad recipe, experiment with your favorite flavors to create something new. Here are some ideas to invigorate your salad bowl:

1. __Experiment with cheeses__. Use your favorite blue cheese, mozzarella, cottage cheese, or cloth-bound cheddar cheese to make the cheese mousse. Try pungent goat cheese for a unique take on a goat cheese salad.
2. __Get creative with your lettuce selection__. Larger lettuce leaves work best for creating the lettuce punches, but there’s still room for creativity. Try adding tender fresh herbs, like chives, to your salad mix, or incorporate peppery arugula.
3. __Try different vinaigrettes__. Instead of a heavy salad dressing, Chef Crenn’s cheese salad features a classic vinaigrette spritzed onto the salad greens using a spray bottle. Subtly alter the flavor of the [vinaigrette recipe](https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-make-a-classic-vinaigrette-with-chef-thomas-keller) by swapping sherry vinegar for apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar. If you don’t have a shallot on hand, infuse the vinaigrette with the flavor of a red onion, garlic clove, or scallion. Or, add a small spoonful of Dijon mustard or freshly ground black pepper.

Make the cheese mousse by whisking together milk, heavy cream, cheese, sugar, kosher salt, and black pepper over medium heat.
Use a cookie cutter or scalloped punch to cut small pieces of lettuce.
Squeeze three tablespoons of the cheese mousse into each of four small bowls. Spray the lettuce cut-outs with vinaigrette and arrange them near or on top of the cheese mousse. Garnish with microgreens, if desired.
In France, dinner guests enjoy their salad at the end of a meal, rather than as an appetizer or side dish. For dessert, you might enjoy a selection of cheeses. In this cheese salad recipe, Chef Dominique Crenn combines those two traditions into a beautiful finale to her tasting menu.

<a href='https://www.masterclass.com/classes/dominique-crenn-teaches-modern-vegetarian-cooking' target='_self' class='mc-text--link' data-mc-segment-trigger='true' data-mc-segment-event-type='Article Page Click' data-event-obj='{"textTag":"p","href":"https://www.masterclass.com/classes/dominique-crenn-teaches-modern-vegetarian-cooking","linkCopy":"Dominique Crenn","category":null}'>Dominique Crenn</a> is an award-winning chef and advocate for sustainability and equity in the culinary world. Though she is now among the world’s most celebrated chefs, her path to culinary greatness was not without its challenges. After being turned away from many French culinary schools due to antiquated opinions about female chefs, Chef Crenn set out for California, where she forged her own culinary identity rooted in personhood, memories, and mindfulness. In San Francisco, Chef Crenn opened Atelier Crenn, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant where diners receive a poem instead of a menu, with each dish represented by a line of poetry. Chef Crenn describes her <a href='https://www.masterclass.com/articles/dominique-crenn-on-food-philosophy' target='_self' class='mc-text--link' data-mc-segment-trigger='true' data-mc-segment-event-type='Article Page Click' data-event-obj='{"textTag":"p","href":"https://www.masterclass.com/articles/dominique-crenn-on-food-philosophy","linkCopy":"food philosophy","category":null}'>food philosophy</a> as “poetic culinaria.”

Meet Dominique Crenn

People have been crafting cheese for thousands of years, but each cheese is the expression of a moment in culinary culture. With this cheese course, Chef Crenn encourages you to savor the particularity of your time and place. This recipe demonstrates how to modernize the traditional finish to a good French meal by aerating a semisoft cheese and decorating it with a deconstructed green salad. Be sure to bring your own sensibility and environment to this dish by exploring the cheeses made in your own region and finding the flavors that speak to you. Taste the greens at your local farmers’ market, and trim them with all of the attention of a bonsai artist. The flavors of this dish will vary with the seasons, but the techniques are usable year-round.

About Dominique Crenn’s Cheese Salad

Once you’ve made Chef Crenn’s cheese salad recipe, experiment with your favorite flavors to create something new. Here are some ideas to invigorate your salad bowl:<ol class="mc-m-4"><li class="mc-my-4"> 1. Experiment with cheeses. Use your favorite blue cheese, mozzarella, cottage cheese, or cloth-bound cheddar cheese to make the cheese mousse. Try pungent goat cheese for a unique take on a goat cheese salad. </li><li class="mc-my-4"> 2. Get creative with your lettuce selection. Larger lettuce leaves work best for creating the lettuce punches, but there’s still room for creativity. Try adding tender fresh herbs, like chives, to your salad mix, or incorporate peppery arugula. </li><li class="mc-my-4"> 3. Try different vinaigrettes. Instead of a heavy salad dressing, Chef Crenn’s cheese salad features a classic vinaigrette spritzed onto the salad greens using a spray bottle. Subtly alter the flavor of the <a href='https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-make-a-classic-vinaigrette-with-chef-thomas-keller' target='_self' class='mc-text--link' data-mc-segment-trigger='true' data-mc-segment-event-type='Article Page Click' data-event-obj='{"textTag":"p","href":"https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-make-a-classic-vinaigrette-with-chef-thomas-keller","linkCopy":"vinaigrette recipe","category":null}'>vinaigrette recipe</a> by swapping sherry vinegar for apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar. If you don’t have a shallot on hand, infuse the vinaigrette with the flavor of a red onion, garlic clove, or scallion. Or, add a small spoonful of Dijon mustard or freshly ground black pepper. </li></ol>

3 Ways to Customize Cheese Salad

How to Make Dominique Crenn’s Cheese Salad

Make the cheese mousse by whisking together milk, heavy cream, cheese, sugar, kosher salt, and black pepper over medium heat.

Use a cookie cutter or scalloped punch to cut small pieces of lettuce.

Squeeze three tablespoons of the cheese mousse into each of four small bowls. Spray the lettuce cut-outs with vinaigrette and arrange them near or on top of the cheese mousse. Garnish with microgreens, if desired.

Dominique Crenn’s Cheese Salad Recipe

In France, dinner guests enjoy their salad at the end of a meal, rather than as an appetizer or side dish. For dessert, you might enjoy a selection of cheeses. In this cheese salad recipe, Chef Dominique Crenn combines those two traditions into a beautiful finale to her tasting menu.

In France, dinner guests enjoy their salad at the end of a meal, rather than as an appetizer or side dish. For dessert, you might enjoy a selection of cheeses. In this cheese salad recipe, Chef Dominique Crenn combines those two traditions into a beautiful finale to her tasting menu.
