A salad can be a comforting (and wintery) dish and I’m going to tell you how. First, let’s start with vegetables from the winter garden. Fennel, for example, combined with citrus fruits, cheese or salmon. If you’ve never made a salad with collard greens, now’s your time. Cut them into very fine julienne strips and dress them with a vinaigrette based on tahini, citrus or peanut butter. They combine very well with orange or grapefruit; with pickled chicken or mackerel; with creamy legume bases and nuts. Pumpkin and beet. Pumpkin and collard greens. Pumpkin and carrot. As you see, there is a world beyond lettuce and tomato.
Another thing that makes your salads worthy is some fruit, whether cooked – which also gives a temperature contrast, works very well – or dehydrated. I really like to add apple or pear sautéed in the pan a little, over high heat, with butter and some spices; any mix of raisins-dried fruits-dates-figs in combination with some toasted nuts; or red fruits – which I usually have frozen – baked with sherry vinegar.
All of this, well mixed with a creamy dressing, seems to me to make a comforting salad. Or how comforting a salad can be, which I know is not a dish of chickpeas with cod, but girl, we will have to continue making them in winter. I promise that with this Brussels sprouts, roasted pear and arugula, you will buy my story. I make a cured cheese and walnut dressing that would be equally good on a roasted pumpkin dish or on toast. Come on, it’s not going to be all pouting.
Difficulty: Do not eat the dressing by the spoonful
Ingredients
For 4 people
- 300 g Brussels sprouts
- 2 pears
- 100g arugula
- Some basil leaves
- 80 g semi-dried tomato
- 50 g toasted walnuts
- 50 g of cured cheese
- 50 ml of oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- Black pepper
- Salt
Instructions
Peel and cut the pears into small cubes. Place on a baking sheet and brush with oil. Bake at 200 ºC for 20 minutes.
Set aside half a handful of walnuts and grind the rest together with the cheese, oil, honey and black pepper. Season with salt and add a little water if necessary to obtain a creamy but fluid texture.
Wash and cut the Brussels sprouts into fine julienne strips. Cut the basil leaves the same way. Chop the semi-dried tomato.
In a bowl, mix the cabbage, arugula, basil, semi-dried tomato and dressing. Serve with the roasted pear on top and the chopped walnuts.
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