Roasted Brussel Sprouts & Pear salad

(serves 4)

Adapted from Donna Hay's Fresh and Light

Having finally finished my Masters, i am free again to cook to my heart's content! Hurray! This week has been really nice just to have time to relax, look up my pretty cookbooks, do some shopping and just try a new recipe! 

Brussel sprouts are back in season which is wonderful because i've been eyeing this recipe for awhile now! The pears are deliciously sweet, the brussel sprouts have a nice bite to them and well, i just love roasted garlic cloves! The blend of ingredients are great, and it's always fun to find another way of using these tiny cabbage like sprouts that everyone seems to want to avoid!

Prep time: 10 min

Cooking time: 35 min

Ingredients:

500 g Brussels sprouts

2 Packham pears

1 Spanish onion

1 head of garlic

2 slices prosciutto (optional)

150 g mix salad leaves

50 g pecorino

Dressing:

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C.

2. Wash and peel off the outer layer of the brussel sprouts, then cut in half. Put aside in a large mixing bowl.

3. Cut and core the pears into eighths and cut the spanish onion into wedges and place into the mixing bowl.

4. Mix up the dressing.

5. Season the brussel sprouts, pears, and spanish onion with salt, pepper, olive oil and half the dressing. Roast for 30min.

6. Cut about 1/2cm from the top of the cloves, season with salt, pepper and olive oil then roast whole in the oven for 30min. 
7. Place the prosciutto slices onto the tray and roast for another 5 minutes until crisp. Remove and set aside.

8. To serve, dress the salad leaves, top with the Brussels sprouts, pears, spanish onion and individual garlic cloves. 

9. Sprinkle goats cheese or shaved pecorino on top (optional).

10. An option for leftover salad: turning it into a toasted sourdough sandwich, mnom mnom! :)