There’s been a distinct lack of blog updates recently I admit and for the most part that’s been due to a fair bit of eating out. More on this later actually…..

And so, having eaten far too much rich food over the last week or so, this week, or what remains of it will focus on ‘lighter’ food. Tonight I made a goats cheese and walnut salad, with pear and a honey dressing. I’d had this classic combination a number of times, but the best was during a meal in an almost desserted Clube de Jornalistas in Lisbon where we sat outside in an amazing rear courtyard. I think the fact a thunderstorm had only just petered out had something to do with the lack of patrons.  Maybe only the Brits and our reluctant ability  to endure the rain were able to venture out that night!

This isn’t a complicated dish and therefore depends in part on the quality of the ingredients, particularly the goats cheese which should be smooth with a ‘saltiness’, rather than the the acidic supermarket approximations. I think next time it would benefit from some sweet cured bacon pieces, but nevertheless we both enjoyed this.

Serves 2, takes 10 minutes tops.

Ingredients:

• Two large handfuls of Frisee lettuce, washed and dried
• 4 walnuts, chopped roughly
• 200g goats cheese, the best quality you can get/afford
• 1 pear, peeled and thinly sliced

For the dressing:

• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
• 1 tbsp oil (I used garlic infused rapeseed oil)
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• Salt (a good pinch) and Pepper to taste

Simply arrange a layer of frisee lettice on each plate and add  some of the goats cheese. Pile the remaining frisee on followed by the remaining cheese and walnuts.

Mix up the dressing ingrdients thoroughly. Peel and slice the pear thinly and layer on top of the salad.

Finally, use a teaspoon and drizzle the dressing over both salads.

Simple as that!