Weekend Foodie: Winter Salad of Lamb's Lettuce, Goat's Cheese, Pear and Walnuts

OK, I know it's snowing outside (at least here in Bavaria anyway) so perhaps a salad might not be the first thing you're thinking of tucking into this weekend. But bear with me. This salad combines some great flavours that are around this time of year. Lamb's lettuce is hands down my favourite salad leaf: soft silky, manageable sized leaves (none of that throat-tickling frisee horror), so I'm loving that it's in season right now. Paired with juicy pear (geddit..., urgh terrible pun, I know), the salty tang of goat's cheese and the crunch of walnuts, mmmm, flavour pairings don't get much better than this.

Ingredients (to serve 4)

handful walnuts
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp raspberry vinegar (or balsamic, or red wine vinegar)
a squeeze of agave nectar (or honey will do too)
4 handfuls of lamb's lettuce (or spinach or watercress work well too)
100g soft goat's cheese (organic, if possible)
2 pears, washed, cored and chopped into small chunks

1. Lightly toast the walnuts for no more than a minute under a hot grill (watch them, they burn quickly).
2. To make the dressing, in a large salad bowl, combine the olive oil, vinegar and agave nectar/honey.
3. Wash and spin your salad leaves, tip into the salad bowl with the dressing, crumble over the goat's cheese, add the chopped pears and toasted walnuts, toss it all together with some salad servers until everything's coated with the dressing.

Serve with some crusty wholemeal bread.