Painting Easter Eggs - Photo Blog

Saffron Poached Pear and Goat’s Cheese Salad

It’s still difficult to believe with the temperature barely above freezing, but spring is on its way. I love the colours of this salad for early spring – the yellow of the saffron, the white of the goats cheese and the green of the watercress give it a real Easter feel – however it is made with produce which is all available from the UK at this time of year, before the growing season has really started. We like the goats cheese to be soft and a little salty, but maybe not as salty as feta. The salty and sweet tastes go well together with the peppery watercress but too salty can be too much. This is a very imprecise recipe - as so much with this kind of dish depends on personal taste and the ingredients you have to hand. Cooking should always be about tasting, trying and using a little of your own experience and inspiration.

Ingredients

6 pears
20 strands of saffron
100g of watercress
100g goats cheese
250ml of extra dry vermouth of white wine
Sugar, salt, pepper and water to taste
Olive oil

75g walnuts
1tbsp icing sugar

Serves 6 as a light lunch or more as a starter

We tend to use fairly hard pears for this recipe and poach them until they are soft – that way they are not too sweet. How sweet you want them is a matter of taste, but the ripeness of the pears will greatly effect the time they need poaching, so we’re unable to give you an exact poaching time – test them with a skewer to see if they are soft, but try not to make them too soft or they will reduce to mush!

Soak the saffron in a cup with 2 tablespoons of boiling water. Peel and half the pears. Remove the core with a sharp knife or a melon baller. Put the infused saffron, vermouth and half a cup of water in a flat, wide pan with the pears face down. Bring to a low simmer and cover with a lid. The liquid should come half way up the pears and will need to be topped up with water depending on how long you cook the pears. Turn the pears half way through cooking so that the saffron dyes the outside yellow and they cook through evenly. After cooking for 2 minutes, taste the liqueur. Depending on how sweet the vermouth and pears are you may want to add a little sugar – 1 or 2 teaspoons.

While the pears are poaching warm a heavy based frying pan on a medium heat to toast the walnuts. The pan should be hot but not burning. Add the walnuts and stir for 2 minutes until they start to colour. Dust on the icing sugar with a fine sieve, and season with black pepper and a little salt. Stir for a few more minutes as the icing sugar dissolves.

Once the pears have finished poaching remove from the pan onto a board and reduce the liqueur by boiling it until you have half a cup. Pour into a small jug for dressing the salad.

We like to fan the pears so you see the more intense yellow on the outside, but how you plate the salad is also a matter of personal choice! Pile on some watercress, add the pears, crumble over the goats cheese, pour over some liqueur and a good grassy extra virgin olive oil and finally top with some walnuts. Use your favourite serving dish, or plate up individually on white plates. We like either viola or chive flowers to decorate up the plate with a little extra colour for a real Easter garden look.

Pictures credits: 

Served on House Doctor Linen Plates
Retro-style dispensers and kitchen timer by Capventure
Duck-egg blue patterned by House Doctor
Lemonade tray in background by House Doctor