Roquefort and poached pear salad
I made this with quinces at Christmas time after my step son, Jamie, was poaching quinces in Muscat for our champagne cocktails! There were so many left over I didn’t want to waste them and this was the result. I’ve since made it with pears and it’s just as delicious.
Feeds 4
Ingredients
1 pack Roquefort
1 pack smoked lardons, fried until crisp in a little olive oil
2 pears, slightly under ripe, peeled,cored and cut into 8 pieces each
½ an Endive lettuce
1 Oakleaf or green lettuce
1 head of chicory
A good handful of walnuts, chopped
A good glug of muscat
100g caster sugar
100g water
Dressing
2 tblsp Walnut oil
4 tblsp olive oil
1 tblsp raspberry vinegar
3 tblsp Muscat syrup
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Pinch sea salt and grind of fresh pepper
Method
Place Muscat, caster sugar and water in a pan and slowly bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar is melted. Simmer for 5 minutes so it becomes a syrup then add the pears. Poach for 7 - 10 minutes or until tender but not falling apart. Drain the pears and leave to cool. Keep the Muscat syrup
Wash and tear the lettuce and endive and place on a large flat plate or salad dish. Chop the chicory and sprinkle this over the lettuce. Add the walnuts and the lardons, then the pears.
Either cut the Roquefort into cubes or just break it up with your fingers and lay it over the top of the salad.
Make the dressing by placing vinegar, Muscat syrup, mustard, salt and pepper in a bowl and whisking the oil slowly into it. You can serve the dressing separately or drizzle over the finished salad.
Cook’s note: The Muscat syrup that is left is lovely in a glass, topped up with a dry white wine (or, indeed, champagne!)
Roquefort and Poached Pear Salad
Roquefort and roll!
Legend has it that the cheese was discovered when a young man, eating his lunch of bread and ewes’ milk cheese, spied a beautiful girl in the distance. He hid his cheese in a nearby cave and ran to meet her. When he returned a few months later, the mould had transformed his plain bit of cheese in to Roquefort! There are just 7 producers of this fine cheese in the small village of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, up in the Aveyron.
Scientists have now discovered that Roquefort has anti-inflammatory properties which could help guard against cardiovascular disease. Also a process that occurs as the cheese ripens is good for a healthy gut, helps slow arthritis and can slow the signs of ageing, such as cellulite, according to a Cambrige based bio-tech company Lycotec. So all to the good in my book and not such a guilty pleasure perhaps!
With spring well and truly here thoughts turn to eating lighter and having aperos with friends and family. So here are two recipes using Roquefort to start those taste buds tingling for spring/summer entertaining al fresco.