Caramelised Pear with Roquefort Salad

Some couples are just odd, or at least they appear to be an odd combination. Either one half of the lovely couple is liked or neither of them are liked.


One might react the same to Caramelised Pear and Roquefort. You might neither like Pear nor Roquefort, or you may just like one of the two ingredients.


I would nevertheless like to invite you to try this recipe. It's one of my personal favourite recipes and to my delight a dish that even my boyfriend enjoys even though he doesn't like Pear (or so he believes).


Ingredients:
- Salad leaves (any lettuce apart from iceberg lettuce)
- Roquefort cheese
- Parma ham
- Pear
- Butter
- Sugar
- Oliver oil
- Lemon juice
- Oregano
- Water




The fun part:
If you are on a tight budget, you might have to buy your lettuce separately and wash and drain them before "tossing" them on a large deep plate or salad bowl that is somewhat flat and not too deep. If you are not on a tight budget or you can't be bothered to wash and dry the lettuce, then use the mixed leaves from a bag that have already been washed. I believe each bag contains between 150 gr or 250 gr of salad leaves.


Peel the Pears (1 or 2) and cut them in quarters, taking out the middle part. Put the peeled Pears in a pan with butter on a low fire. Put a tea spoon of sugar over the Pears and add a little bit of water, just to cover half of the Pears. Leave this until the Pears turn all soft and the water has evaporated and the sugar caramelised. Then turn the Pears around and a little bit of water, this time less than the first time. If you like the Pears to be a bit harder, then don't leave them in the pan too long. If you like them soft and caramelised, leave them in a bit longer.

While you wait for the Pears (please don't leave the kitchen as you don't want to burn the Pears and waste all this yumminess), please add in a separate bowl, as much olive oil as you want to the bowl or for those who want exact measures, 5 or 6 table spoons. Then add half the amount of lemon juice (so if you have used 5 table spoons of olive oil, you add 2,5 table spoons of lemon juice). Mix it around. Please add a pinch of oregano, not too much as oregano is quite strong. (Again for those you like exact measures, no need to roll your eyes or panic, half a table spoon of oregano will do). Poor this mixture over the leaves.

When the Pears are done you put them on top of the salad leaves as if you're decorating a cake and add shredded Parma ham (as much as you like) and Roquefort cheese (as much as you like). This combination, which may appear to be somewhat odd, is a fantastic mixture of salty and sweet. For those who think salads are for stickinsects and are not filling at all, please try this dish. Even a big eater like me is very satisfied after a plate of this yumminess.

Voila! Enjoy!
xxx