How to make roasted pear and fennel salad

Pear and fennel are a happy marriage, and roasting brings out the best in both. Serve with endive and yoghurt and your salads will never be boring again

It’s the fennel countdown: the dish makes for a perfect light lunch (Photography by Julia Platt Leonard)

A cold salad on a cold day probably isn’t high on the list of things you’re craving. But there is no law that says a salad has to be cold – or even room temperature.

Roasted vegetables, hot from the oven, make the perfect base for a winter salad. Curly endive or radicchio can stand up to the heat from roasted veg and have bitter notes that give a winter salad added depth.

You could roast carrots or beetroot or even wedges of hard squashes like pumpkin or butternut squash.

Pear and fennel is a happy marriage with the sweetness from the pears mingling perfectly with the anise seed notes of the fennel.

Roasting brings out the best in both, just make sure you start with ripe but firm pears, otherwise they’re likely to turn mushy when they hit the heat of a hot oven.

Labneh – strained yoghurt – is easy to make and adds creaminess to the salad. Any leftovers are a treat spread on toasted sourdough for breakfast or served as part of a mezze platter. The vinaigrette is assertive with a healthy dose of Dijon mustard – just the thing to warm you up on a cold winter’s day.

(Julia Platt Leonard)

Roasted pear and fennel salad with curly endive, sesame seed-crusted labneh and a mustardy vinaigrette

Serves 4

2 large or 4 small pears, about 500g in total 
2 fennel bulbs, about 500g in total
Curly endive, or other lettuce, four handfuls
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

For the labneh

250g whole fat Greek yoghurt
½ tsp sea salt
A mix of black and white sesame seeds, about 2-3 tbsp in total

For the mustardy vinaigrette

½-1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp white wine or white balsamic vinegar
2-3 tbsp Olive oil
Dash of cream
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 220°C. To make the labneh, mix the yoghurt and salt in a small bowl. Scoop into a piece of cheesecloth or a clean tea towel. Twist the ends together to form a tight ball. Place the ball in a sieve over a bowl and let sit for several hours. Occasionally, give the ball of yoghurt a twist to release liquid. The strained yoghurt should be firm but easy to spread.

Put the sesame seeds on a shallow plate. Shape the labneh into balls and roll them in sesame seeds. Set aside until ready to serve the salad.

Remove any fronds from the fennel and set those aside to use as a garnish on the finished salad. Cut the fennel in half. Make a V-shaped cut in the base to remove almost all the woody core, leaving a bit to keep the wedges intact. Then slice the halves into wedges. Cut the pear in wedges, roughly the same size as the fennel. Remove the core from the pears. Toss the pear and fennel gently with olive oil to coat, sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and put in a large roasting pan. Place the pan in the hot oven and roast until a knife can be inserted into the flesh but the slices are still firm, around 20 minutes. Turn the pear and fennel occasionally so the wedges are evenly browned.

While the pears and fennel are roasting, wash the lettuce and spin dry in a salad spinner.

To make the dressing, whisk together the mustard, vinegar and then slowly drizzle in the olive oil until you have a smooth emulsion. Taste and add salt and pepper. If using the cream, add a teaspoon or so.

Place a handful of curly endive on each plate and then divide the roasted pears and fennel equally. Dot with the sesame seed-crusted labneh.

Note: any leftover labneh can be stored in a clean glass jar filled with olive oil and stored in the refrigerator.

@juliapleonard