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Roasted pear and parsnip salad
Serves 2-4 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 1kg unpeeled parsnips, scrubbed and cut in half lengthways
- 100ml extra virgin olive oil
- 450g brown pears, such as beurre bosc, quartered, core and seeds removed
- 3tsp thyme leaves
- 200g macadamia nuts
- 1tsp coriander seeds
- 10g flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- 10g red lentil sprouts (see recipe below)
- edible flowers, to garnish (optional)
For the dressing
- 50ml extra virgin olive oil
- 20ml verjuice
Method
Preheat the oven to 220C/200C F/Gas 7. Put the parsnips in a baking dish and drizzle the olive oil over. Season with salt and black pepper, cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, then stir the parsnips to coat them with the olive oil from the bottom of the pan. Return to the oven and roast, uncovered, for a further 15 minutes or until tender.
Carefully add the pears and thyme to the parsnip baking dish, spooning some of the roasting oil across the pears,and roast for a further 15 minutes or until the parsnips and pears are tender and golden brown along their edges. Around 5–8 minutes before the end of the cooking time, put the macadamias on a separate baking tray and add them to the oven to toast, keeping an eye on them so they don’t burn.
Once tender, remove the pears and parsnips from the oven, along with the roasted macadamias, and allow to cool to room temperature. Roughly chop the nuts when cool.
In a dry frying pan over high heat, toast the coriander seeds for 2–3 minutes until they start to crackle and smell toasted then remove from the heat.
To assemble the salad, layer the roasted parsnips and pears on a large platter, followed by the macadamias, toasted coriander seeds, herbs, lentil sprouts and flowers, if using. Combine the dressing ingredients and drizzle over the salad. Season to taste and serve.
Red Lentil Sprouts
Start around 4 days before the sprouts are needed.
70g dried organic baby red lentils
Soak the lentils in a bowl of cold water overnight.
The next morning, pour the soaked lentils into a clean sprouting bag and, with the top of the bag open, let tap water run through the lentils. Turn off the water, tighten the drawstring and hang the bag from the kitchen tap to drain.
Repeat the process of running water through the lentils in the bag each day, then allowing them to drain over the sink, until little sprout tails appear. This usually takes 3–4 days.
Once the lentils have sprouts, transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge. Use within 5–7 days.
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