Salads
Radicchio, pear, blue cheese and walnut salad
With heaps of colour, texture and flavour, this punchy salad is an excellent dinner party starter or light lunch. You can use pecans instead of walnuts, or Gorgonzola in place of Stilton – the main thing is to get that lovely contrasting set of tastes and textures.
Ingredients
- 1 head radicchio, tough core removed, leaves shredded
- 100g mixed salad leaves, or shredded lettuce leaves
- small knob of butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 pears, cored and sliced
- 150g walnut pieces
- 2 tbsp clear honey
- splash balsamic vinegar
- 200g Stilton, crumbled
- olive oil, to finish
- salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
Mix the radicchio and salad leaves together in a large bowl. In a large frying pan, heat the butter and oil. Add the pears. Cook on a reasonably high heat until the pears have softened and turned golden brown.
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Step 2
Add the walnuts, honey and a good splash of balsamic vinegar. Season well. Stir gently to combine, remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly. Add a tablespoon or two more of good olive oil. Pour the pears into the salad leaves and lightly toss to combine.
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Step 3
Either serve on one large platter, sprinkled with the stilton, or on individual plates. Drizzle over a little more olive oil to serve.