Autumn salad

I love weekends (ahh - surprise!) and over the course of the weekend, I'm especially fond of saturday lunchtime. On a good day, the shopping of groceries, cleaning of apartment etc. has been done and you've got the rest of the day ahead of you. You can go out and do something or, and that's what I opted for last week, you can spend the rest of the afternoon or even the whole day in your (blissfully clean and orderly) apartment. I admit that you need to get up quite early to get everything done until lunchtime. That's ok for me, seeing that I'm always a bit jetlagged due to the fact that I get up very early during the week (or in the middle of the night, as some would say). But you see, that's a good thing, as it means that you will have had breakfast early, even on saturday, and as a consequence you'll be hungry again and in the mood for lunch. Brilliant, isn't it?

Autumn salad (for one)

- some frisée salad (or any other robust, bitter salad greens)
- some crumbly goat cheese, in smallish pieces
- 0.5 small, not too ripe pear, cut into thin slices
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon malaga dessert wine
- a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds

Arrange the salad leaves on a plate, place the pear and goat cheese on top. Put the olive oil, vinegar, dessert wine and pumpkin seeds in a small saucepan and heat slightly. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle over the salad. Serve with fresh, preferably wholewheat bread. I had a wholewheat bun with green olives - perfect.

I find that the frisee's bitterness can be a bit challenging when eaten on its own, but it's perfect when combined with something sweet, plus, its coarsely-textured leaves won't wilt as quickly as other salads when mixed with the warm dressing.