Chicory, walnut, pear and roquefort salad

Name: Chicory, walnut, pear and roquefort salad
Prep time: 10 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 50g Roquefort cheese, room temperature; 20g Water, tepid; 15ml / 1 tbsp White wine vinegar; 30ml / 2 tbsp Olive oil, extra virgin; 1 pinch Pepper, black, freshly ground; 800g / 4 Chicory, white and purple, small, washed and, quartered lengthways; 100g Walnuts, roughly chopped; 250g / 1 medium Conference Pear, ripe but firm, cored, halved, finely sliced; 60g / 1 stick Celery, finely sliced; 80g Roquefort, cold and crumbled; 10g / 2 tsp Chives, finely chopped

This salad is simple but incredibly delicious

Prep 10 minsCook —Serves 4

This salad is simple, but it’s a firm favourite and one we teach at the Raymond Blanc Cookery School. As a Frenchman, I naturally regard Roquefort as the king of the blue cheeses, but there are many wonderful British blue cheeses as well, such as Stilton, Cashel Blue, Blue Vinney, Yorkshire Blue and Barkham Blue. Any of those would make a delicious substitute in this dish. I would advise you to use an unsweetened pear such as Conference, which is the pear best suited for cheese. Interestingly enough, it is a French heritage variety of 1884 from Leon Leclerc de Laval … sorry!

Ingredients

For the Roquefort dressing

50gRoquefort cheese, room temperature
20gWater, tepid
15ml / 1 tbspWhite wine vinegar
30ml / 2 tbspOlive oil, extra virgin
1 pinchPepper, black, freshly ground

For the salad

800g / 4Chicory, white and purple, small, washed and, quartered lengthways
100gWalnuts, roughly chopped
250g / 1 mediumConference Pear, ripe but firm, cored, halved, finely sliced
60g / 1 stickCelery, finely sliced
80gRoquefort, cold and crumbled
10g / 2 tspChives, finely chopped

Method

1
For the Roquefort dressing In a large bowl, using a spatula, cream the Roquefort cheese to a smooth paste, add the warm water, white wine vinegar and whisk until smooth.
Gradually whisk in the olive oil little by little; season to taste with the freshly ground black pepper.
No salt is needed, as the Roquefort has plenty itself.
2
For the salad In a large bowl, toss the chicory, walnut, pear, celery and two-thirds of the cold Roquefort into the dressing and arrange on a large serving plate.
To finish, crumble the remaining cold Roquefort over the salad and sprinkle with chopped chives.
3
Variations Should you wish, you can replace chicory with any other autumn or winter salad leaves such as lambs lettuce, frisee and escarole, which are best suited to this dish; these leaves are hardy and can take cold weather.
The Conference pear can be replaced by apples, muscadet grape raisins, dates or figs etc.
My beloved Roquefort could be replaced by any of the beautiful British blue cheeses.
My favourite would be Barkham Blue.

Chef's Tips

“
"I would advise you to use an unsweetened pear such as Conference, which is the pear best suited for cheese. Interestingly enough, it is a French heritage variety of 1884 from Leon Leclerc de Laval … sorry!"

Cooking is always an expression of care and generosity. Enjoy this dish.

Bon appétit!