Cook
in
France
Jim Fisher (chef/owner)
Tel: 0033 (0)553 302405 Bombel, 24290, St Amand de Coly, Sarlat, Dordogne, France (GPS: N45° 01.915/E001° 15.295)
Tel: 0033 (0)553 302405 Bombel, 24290, St Amand de Coly, Sarlat, Dordogne, France (GPS: N45° 01.915/E001° 15.295)
Pear and Walnut Salad
Pear and Walnut Salad with Roquette and Roquefort and a Walnut Oil and Grain Mustard Vinaigrette.
One of the interesting food-related places we take our guests to is an old walnut oil mill (one of the oldest working walnut mills in France, no less) to see how they turn the rather unpreposessing walnut into...yes, you guessed it - walnut oil. For our guests the trip is actually an introduction into the art - and it is an art - of constructing salads. Well, you can't create a decent salad without a really good dressing can you? Hence the walnut oil.
Pear and wanut salad has actually been around for quite a while now, so I think it has achieved classic status.
The only thing that needs any preparation to speak of is the dressing, but the pears do need to be ripe and juicy – comice are perfect for this and the Roquefort needs to be fresh and crumbly (if you haven’t got any to hand, a good strong cheese like parmesan, stilton or feta will do very nicely indeed, but completely forget about using that dirty sock-flavoured sawdust sold in pots, laughably labelled ‘Freshly Grated Parmesan’).
If you want to turn this from a starter into a main course just add some strips of dry-cured ham, smoked duck breast, or sauteed chicken livers.
Serves four
Ingredients:
2 ripe juicy comice pears
1 lemon
1 tblsp white wine vinegar
salt
1 tsp grain mustard
6 tblsp walnut oil
freshly ground black pepper
handful roquette
handful of fresh walnut halves, roughly crushed
75g (3oz) good quality fresh Roquefort
Method:
Peel and core the pears, then smear with a little lemon juice to prevent them turning brown.
Put the vinegar and a good pinch of salt in a screw-top jar and shake until the salt has desolved. Add the mustard and walnut oil, then shake again to emulsify – the emulsion will hold for ten minutes or so, but give it another jiggle just before you use it to dress the salad.
Assemble the salad: slice the pears lengthwise into thin segments and place them rustically on four serving plates along with the roquette, then scatter over the bruised walnuts.
Drizzle with the vinaigrette.
Crumble the Roquefort over the salad, then ‘dust’ with a little ground black pepper.
You have permission to publish this article and recipe electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the following byline is included (a courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated):
"Jim Fisher is an English chef who runs www.cookinfrance.com: relaxed friendly hands-on cooking courses in the Dordogne region of south west France. Contact him via: http://www.cookinfrance.com or Tel: 0033 (0)553 302405"
Prices
Prices start at just £120/175€ per person.
You can choose from our flexible range of one-day, two-day or three-day cooking courses, or come for our great value five-day/six-night cooking holiday.
You can choose from our flexible range of one-day, two-day or three-day cooking courses, or come for our great value five-day/six-night cooking holiday.
Courses and holidays can be residential or non-residential - it's your choice. Non-cooking friends/partners welcome.
A cooking holiday can be cheaper than you think - find out how much our great value cooking holidays actually cost - you'll be pleasantly surprised!
"Once, during Prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing
but food and water." (W.C. Fields)
but food and water." (W.C. Fields)
