Caramelised Pear and Rocket Salad {50 Women In Food: #31 Donna Hay}
Mary of One Perfect Bite and some other women food bloggers (including myself) are blogging our way through the 50 Women Game Changers In Food published by Gourmet in May ’11. Some of the women on the list you will know, others you may not, but either way, this will be a great 50 week journey to learn more about these women that inspire the way we think about food today.
Please visit Mary at One Perfect Bite, Val at More Than Burnt Toast, Joanne at Eats Well With Others, Taryn at Have Kitchen Will Feed, Susan at The Spice Garden, Claudia at A Seasonal Cook In Turkey, Heather at Girlichef, Jeanette at Jeanette’s Healthy Living, Katie at Making Michael Poland Proud, Sue at The View From Great Island, Barbara at Moveable Feasts, Nancy at Picadillo, Mireya at My Healthy Eating Habits, Veronica at My Catholic Kitchen, Annie at Lovely Things, Claudia at Journey of an Italian Cook and Alyce at More Time at the Table for their tributes to these 50 women.
Where have I been that I have no idea who this Donna Hay person is? I mean seriously? Former food editor of Marie Claire, editor of Donna Hay Magazine, 18 award-winning cookbooks, the Donna Hay General Store, a houseware line and a food line. Her magazine is even available in the app store. She’s like the Australian version of our Martha Stewart. Maybe that’s it. I don’t live in Australia. Is that excuse enough? Probably not, but that’s what I’m going with.
Do you love beautiful cookbooks as much as I do? Move over Martha. Donna Hay’s cookbooks are breathtaking. The thing I also love about The Instant Cook is that she gives you variations of recipes, so you actually learn how to pair things together.
Why a simple salad? Because I always find myself looking for more salad recipe to have as staples. This salad is now a staple. It has all of my favorite ingredients and it is super easy to remember.
Mis en Place:
Kitchen Notes:
- I made this salad twice last week. The second time, I used 1 Tablespoon less butter and about a 1/2 teaspoon more sugar.
- I also opted to toast my walnuts first and then tossed in the sugar to coat them. Then came the vinegar, then butter. Doing it this way, I felt that it better candied the nuts and pears.
Ingredients
- 2 ounces butter
- 3 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 firm brown pears, quartered and cored
- 3 1/2 ounces rocket (arugula) leaves
- 5 ounces soft blue cheese, sliced
Directions
- Place butter, vinegar and sugar in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the pear and walnuts and cook for 4 minutes until the pear is just soft.
- Place the rocket on serving plates and top with the pear and walnuts. Spoon over the pan juices and top with the blue cheese.
In The Spotlight: Donna Hay
(From Wikipedia) Donna Hay is an Australian food stylist, author, and magazine editor. She is best known as the author of 14 bestselling cookbooks, including Off the Shelf, Modern Classics (Books 1 and 2), The Instant Cook, Christmas, and Instant Entertaining. Selling over 3 million copies worldwide, her books are known for their simple recipes and beautiful photography. She was named one of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ cookbook authors by the judges of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in January 2007. Hay also serves as Editor-in-Chief of Donna Hay Magazine, a bi-monthly magazine launched in 2001. She has also acted as Food Editor for Marie Claire magazine since 2006, as well as six months as Food Editor at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. She also has her own homewares range, Donna Hay Home; her own store, Donna Hay General Store, in Woollahra; and a weekly column published in News Limited newspapers. Donna will launch a range of homewares in partnership with Royal Doulton in mid-2011.
Of all of the 50 women game changers Donna Hay is my favourite. You just have to include her magazine in your buying! This salad of hers sounds perfect for the season and so tasty too!
I will have to include her magazines, she’s great!
I love caramelized fruits, so this is a natural for me! So easy, too! You picked a good one to add to your salad repertoire!
Caramelized fruits are awesome – I knew when I first read the recipe that this was right up my alley.
I will be doing this – in fact so far – I am planning on doing all of the recipes featured. They just welcome and are accessible. Plus I’m a sucker for combining pears and blue cheeses. That opening photo says it all.
You are so right about the pear and blue cheese – great combination! Glad to see your list is getting longer, can’t wait to see you recreate some of these!
Pear, cheese, and walnuts…what a combo!
Thanks for stopping by Mireya!
Looks wonderful!
Thanks so much!
I love this salad! It would make a wonderful Lenten Lunch. I love her photography and food styling. Her recipes seem much more simpler than say Martha. What a wonderful recipe you picked.
Thanks so much, wasn’t her photography wonderful? And the recipes were so easy to follow as well.
YUM! I think this would become as staple in my kitchen, as well. Love the combo.
That is a VERY nice salad. I like what you did to it the second time. The toasted/candied walnuts sound like a perfect addition.
I love the pronounced sweetness, so I definitely enjoyed it that way.