I have just read ‘The Busy Trap’ an interesting article which discusses how busy our lives have become.
Living in London with two small children their are times where I feel that my feet don’t touch the ground. Reading the article reminded me that much of our busyness comes from over organising our lives.
We volunteer to help friends, arrange all kinds of extra circular activities for our children, say yes to lots of wonderful invites and the result should be a full and busy life. I use the word should here ... as sometimes it is hard to get the balance right and the busy takes over. It is in these moments where it helps to remember to stop so we can enjoy our lives, our friends and make time for little pleasures.
One area where I need to stop the busy and have a little pleasure is over lunch.
If the children are home we sit down and eat together ... if not I tend to get distracted by my to do list and run round immersed in the busy forgetting to stop and recharge my batteries.
Today, I was inspired to stop. I gave myself half an hour to make and eat a simple salad and remind myself that busy is good ... to much busy ... is not.
LAMBS LETTUCE, BLUE CHEESE AND PEAR SALAD - Serves 2 as a light lunch (4 as a starter)
Ingredients
100g Lambs Lettuce, 75g Castello (soft blue cheese), 2 Firm Pears, 1 Heaped Teaspoon of Butter, 1 Heaped Teaspoon of Sugar
- Wash and dry the lettuce
- Using your hands crumble the cheese over the lettuce
- Peel and core the pears and slice each pear in to quarters then eights
- Place a frying pan on a medium heat and add the butter. Once the butter is hot and bubbling add the sugar and pears to the pan and gently stir until all the pears are covered and sugar melted.
- Cook the pears for a minute or two on each side till they are soft and slightly caramelised
- Remove the pears from the pan and place on top to the cheese, pour over the juices, drizzle with olive oil and serve with a crusty baguette
Cooking notes
I love Castello for this salad. If you can not find it Dolcelatte or another similar soft blue cheese will taste good. If the cheese is too sticky to crumble then just tear of pieces and dot it over the salad.
You need fairly firm pears for this recipe. They should be just to ripe to eat. If they are to ripe they will disintegrate when cooked.
Adapting
If you have a day old baguette to eat up then make some croutons to go in the salad rather than serving with a baguette.
To do this cut the bread into 1cm chunks, drizzle with olive oil and and pop them in the oven at 180 for 5-10 minutes until golden. Allow the croutons to cool slightly. Once cool, sprinkle on the salad leaves just before you add the pears.
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