Recipe courtesy of Psychologies Magazine (August 2019) and taken from Summer Every Day by Acland Geddes and Pedro Da Silva
Serves : 4
Ingredients :
4 pears (any type will do, but make sure they are fairly firm)
2 tblsp clear honey
50g butter, melted
6 slices Parma ham
150g Dolcelatte cheese
150g wild rocket
Step One : Preheat the oven to 200oC, gas mark 6. Core the pears and cut them lengthwise into eight wedges. Toss them with the honey and melted butter and season with salt and pepper. Bake them on a non-stock baking tray for about 15 minutes : you want them to have begun to turn golden and caramelised, but not to have lost their bite. This is why medium-to-firm pears are essential; if they are too ripe they will fall apart in the oven.
Step Two : Place the Parma ham slices on a wire rack and roast in the oven for eight to 10 minutes. Keep a vigilant watch over them, as they can go from pink to black faster than you think. They should be rigid and deeply coloured, but not burned. Allow to cool on the rack.
Step Three : Mix together the rocket, roasted pears and crispy ham. Scatter the Dolcelatte cheese over the salad as best you can – it’s a sticky cheese, so it will resist being broken up. If you’ve had a bad day and can’t be bothered with wrestling with an uncooperative dairy product, you can always opt for the more accommodating Roquefort or Stilton – the results are just as good.
