Vegetarian Christmas starter recipe for 6 people, takes only 20 mins; recipe has pear, lime, creme fraiche, stilton, ginger, walnut, date, walnut oil, salad leaf and watercress.
Pear, date & walnut salad with creamy stilton dressing
Course: Vegetarian Christmas starter
Servings
6
servings
Prep time
30 mins
Ingredients
- Lime: juice 1 lime
- Creme Fraiche: 100g creme fraiche
- Watercress: 1 large watercress, divided into sprigs
- Ginger: 1-2 tbsp ginger syrup (from a jar of ginger in syrup)
- Walnut: 100g pack broken walnuts
- Salad Leaf: 225g bag mixed salad leaves
- Pear: 3 ripe pears, quartered and cored, peel left on
- Date: 12 dates (Medjool are good), stoned and chopped
- Walnut Oil: walnut oil, for drizzling
- Stilton: 300g stilton, crumbled, room temperature
Directions
- Cut the pear quarters into thin slices and toss in a bowl with the lime juice to help protect their natural colour. Blend the creme fraiche with half the stilton, ginger syrup to taste, and enough water (3-4 tbsp) to give a smooth, thick coating consistency. (Don't add too much water or it may separate.)
- Scatter the pear slices over six serving plates and follow with the walnuts, dates and remaining cheese. Can be prepared to this stage up to an hour ahead.
- Drizzle each salad with a little of the dressing and some walnut oil. Season with a grinding of pepper - you shouldn't need salt, as the cheese is salty. Mix the salad leaves and watercress very lightly with just a bit more dressing - some leaves should be touched by the dressing, some untouched. Gently pile the leaves on top of each salad.
