Now that the nice season is about to start (at least we hope! This is England after all…) and the days are getting longer and warmer what is better than a nice salad? I LOVE trying different combinations and often order one when I eat out, particularly in the summer. To be honest it’s difficult to go wrong with salads and you can be very imaginative when creating one, if you wish. The days of the bog standard lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and cucumber are over, I am sure. The one I’m sharing with you today is a firm favourite of mine ( I ADORE blue cheeses!!!). You will have probably come across it before . I am not claiming originality. Even so, this blog is all about what REAL people actually cook. Right? And this is what I made the other night. I really like the combination of the sweetness of the pear and the saltiness of the roquefort cheese. By the way in Italian there is saying that goes “al contadino non far sapere quanto è buono il formaggio con le pere” (literally translated it means: don’t let the peasant know how good cheese with pears is”). I doubt there will be any peasants amongst our readers hence I’m safe! He he. As to what the saying really means….well…. have a guess people!
INGREDIENTS (for 2 people)
rocket salad (but any other nice salad will do!)
2 ripe(ish) pears (strange fruit, pears! They are often either too hard or too soft!), peeled and sliced
150 gr. roquefort cheese (but you can use gorgonzola or any other type of blue cheese, I guess), crumbled
a handful of pecan nuts (walnuts will do)
olive oil and balsamic vinegar (for the dressing)
1 small ripe avocado, peeled and sliced (PLEASE NOTE: I don’t usually put an avocado in this salad but as it was rotting away in my fruit bowl I decided to put it out of its misery and use it. It turned out it was actually very nice but feel free to leave it out, if you wish.)
PREAPARATION
Well…do I need to spell it out? Just arrange all the ingredients nicely on top of each other , starting with the rocket salad, drizzle with the olive oil and the balsamic vinegar (I used that thick balsamic vinegar to dress it which is simply delicious!) and BINGO! Salad made! How easy is that? I have served it in the past as a starter when I had people round for dinner. Sorted!
Il contadino e le pere… esattamente l’esatto contrario del nostro blog e del nostro desiderio di condivisione. La tua insalata suona bene, la farò sicuramente perché anche a me piace molto l’abbinamento formaggio-pere. Ti ricordi almeno vent’anni fa? Avevamo partecipato a chissò che concorso con una ricetta di una pie di formaggio e pere. Ma è vero? Eravamo noi quelle? O me lo sto inventando?????
Intanto ti metto qui il link a una delle mie insalate favorite. Giusto per affrontare preparati la primavera
Dear Candi, I hate to say this but WHAT CHEESE AND PEAR PIE COMPETITION? Ok, three possibilities: 1) you dreamt it, 2)you did it but with somebody else, 3) we DID enter the competition but I have zero recollection of it…which can only means that the Alzheimer friend is knocking at my brain door. Pick the most likely one.
By the way, have YOU got any interesting salad recipes to share??
P.S. What is the Italian name for pecan nuts??? I cannot remember it (speaking of Alzheimer)
la IV possibilità è che io sia fusa di cervello. E forse è la più probabile, ma pensa che ho un ricordo preciso, della tua cucina nella tua scorsa casa e di noi due che oltre a questa pie imparavamo a fare il filetto alla Wellington… dimmi ti ricordi? altrimenti sono davvero KO.
Il nome delle noci pecan? eh eh non molto originale, per quello non lo ricordavi.
Infine l’insalata che ho linkato non la rimetto qui per non essere sgridata
Ne avrei una preferita ma comporta un ingrediente che qui non si trova: il fegato di merluzzo… e da voi c’è?