PEAR & MANCHEGO SALAD WITH JAMON-WRAPPED BREADSTICKS

This is a really exquisit salad, and it could be great to be served as entrée in a dinner party or even lunch. You can prepare all ingredients ahead and you just need to assemble them before the meal. However, the pears need to be a bit warm or at room temperature. It comes from a recipe from Valli Little from the Spain section in the cookbook 'Delicious - Love to Eat'. Very easy to make, and yet it tastes exceptionally good....

Ingredients
2 firm beurre bosc pears
1 lemon, halved
1/3 cup (80 ml) olive oil
2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp of blood orange juice*<
2 Tbsp sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
8 slices of jamón serrano**
8 breadsticks (grissini)
100g baby salad leaves (mesclun)
2 Tbsp roasted chopped walnuts
40g Manchego cheese***, shaved

* If blood oranges aren't available, use regular oranges.
** Dried and salt-cured ham. Substitute jamón serrano with prosciutto.
*** A hard cheese, originally made with the milk sheep from La Mancha. Available from Spanish and selected delis, and specialist cheese shops.

Method
Cut the pears lengthways into 1cm thick slices, leaving stalks intact. Rub pear with the cut side of half the lemon. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a frypan over medium-high heat. Add pear and cook for 1-2 minutes each side or until light golden.

Add honey and the juice of the remaining 1/2 lemon, swirling the pan to warm the honey mixture and coat the pear.

Whisk remaining 1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil, orange juice and vinegar in a small bowl. Season. Wrap a slice of jamón around each breadstick. Using a slotted spoon, transfer pear slices to a bowl, reserving cooking juices.

Add cooking juices to the dressing and whisk to combine.

Put the baby salad leaves and the pears in serving bowls. Scatter with walnuts and manchego.

To serve, drizzle with the dressing and serve with jamón-wrapped breadsticks.

Serves 4

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