Ingredients

Method

• 2 T wholegrain mustard
• 1 cup olive oil
• 5 T balsamic vinegar
• 70 g treacle sugar
• 200 g moist biltong, thinly sliced
For the poached pears:
• 3 cups white wine
• 2 honeybush teabags
• 200 g sugar
• 1 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 10 peppercorns
• 5 cloves
• 4 pears, peeled
• 60 g walnuts, crushed
• 1 T biltong powder
• 120 g Gorgonzola
• 1 T caster sugar
For the salad:
• 20 g Baby spinach leaves, shredded
• 60 g walnuts, roasted and salted
• 20 g microgreens
• 1 T biltong powder, to garnish

Method

Ingredients

Place the mustard, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and treacle sugar in a jar with a lid and shake well. Pour over the biltong and set aside until ready to use.

To poach the pears, place the wine, teabags, sugar, spices and pears in a saucepan and simmer over a medium heat for 20 minutes. Remove the pears from the saucepan and increase the heat to reduce the liquid to a light syrup. Once it has reduced, return the pears to the syrup. Cool and store in the fridge. Use a melon baller to core the pears from the bottom so that they can be filled with the Gorgonzola.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Mix the crushed walnuts with the biltong powder. Fill the poached pears with Gorgonzola and create a “stopper” at the bottom of each with the walnut-and-biltong mixture.

Place the filled pears on a nonstick oven tray and bake until heated through and the cheese starts to melt, about 15–20 minutes. Remove the pears from the oven, sprinkle with caster sugar and use a kitchen blowtorch to caramelise them.

To serve, assemble the salad by arranging the marinated biltong (retain the marinade), baby spinach, walnuts and microgreens on a platter. Dress with 4 Tof the biltong marinade. Place the pears on top of the salad and sprinkle with the biltong powder.

Discover more salad recipes here.