Castelfranco Salad with Pears and Blue Cheese

Name: Castelfranco Salad with Pears and Blue Cheese
Yield: Serves four to six
Cuisine: Italy
Ingredients: juice of 1 lemons; 150 g (5½ oz) Roquefort cheese; 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar; ½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper; 4 tablespoons best-quality olive oil; ½ teaspoon sea salt; 3 large ripe pears; 1 large head of Castelfranco radicchio

Preparation info

Serves
four to six

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

A Long and Messy Business

By Rowley Leigh

Published 2018

About

It is hardly correct to pair a Venetian salad with a French cheese, but no blue cheese tastes quite like Roquefort in a salad. If using a richer and creamier blue cheese it may be necessary to up both the salt and the vinegar in the dressing. Apples will serve in place of pears.

Ingredients

1 large head of Castelfranco radicchio
3 large ripe pears
juice of 1

Europe
Italy
February
Gluten-free
Vegetarian
Mediterranean
Venice

Method

Cut the Castelfranco in half down through the root and cut in half again. Cut away the root and stalk holding the leaves together, then cut each segment in half again to produce lots of bite-sized pieces. Wash in a large bowl of very cold water, then spin-dry before tipping into a large salad bowl.

Peel the pears and roll them in the lemon juice. Halve the pears and scoop out the cores