Chicory and lamb's lettuce with pear, persimmon and dumpling croutons
There are kitchen skills I'm quite good at (like tossing things in a pan or meticulously chopping various foods), but of course, there are also a few things I don't exactly excel at. Right at the top of that list is: realistically estimating quantities.
- For the salad:
- 150 g lamb's lettuce
- 1 Chicory
- 1 Foot
- 1 pear
- Black cumin seeds for serving
- For the caramelized walnuts:
- 50 g sugar
- 50 g water
- 100g walnuts
- For the shallot vinaigrette:
- 2 shallots
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tbsp dark balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp grainy mustard
- 1 tsp maple syrup (or agave nectar or sugar)
- Water
- Salt
- Pfeffer
- For the dumpling croutons:
- 6 dumplings or potato dumplings from the previous day
- approx. 100 g breadcrumbs
- vegan butter for frying
- For the salad, clean the lamb's lettuce and halve the chicory, then cut it into thin strips. Dice the persimmon and pear. Arrange all the cut ingredients directly onto serving plates or a large salad platter.
- Peel and finely dice the shallots. Place them in a screw-top jar along with olive oil, dark balsamic vinegar, grainy mustard, maple syrup, salt, and pepper. Shake vigorously until well combined. Taste the vinaigrette again and add a little water if you prefer a thinner consistency.
- To make the caramelized walnuts, first heat the sugar and water in a pan until the sugar has melted. Add the walnuts to the pan and heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar mixture coats the nuts, reduces, and then caramelizes. This can easily take 10 minutes – the nuts will often appear dull at first and then shiny again. Carefully place the caramelized walnuts onto parchment paper (be careful, they're hot!) and let them cool. Then chop them into smaller pieces.
- Quarter leftover dumplings or cut them into bite-sized pieces. Then coat them completely in breadcrumbs – if the dumplings are too dry, moisten them with a little water beforehand. Heat vegan butter in a pan over medium heat and fry the breaded dumplings on all sides until golden brown.
- Just before serving, add the vinaigrette to the salad and toss to combine. Distribute the dumpling croutons and caramelized walnuts on top and sprinkle with nigella seeds.
There's one thing I deliberately make extra of because I'm already looking forward to the leftovers the next day: dumplings! The leftovers can be wonderfully fried and eaten again with the remaining red cabbage, vegan goulash, or whatever else was served. But that's really not a recipe I need to write down here – and yet, to conclude our themed week, we wanted to give you a recipe for "the leftovers."
The result is a wintery salad with dumpling croutons, which is sure to be a pleasantly fresh change from the hearty dishes you've been eating. You can make this recipe with any pre-cooked dumplings or potato dumplings. All you have to do is cut them into small pieces and coat them in breadcrumbs. Essentially, these are deconstructed buttered breadcrumbs, the kind you often sprinkle on dumplings. We're simply rolling the dumpling pieces directly in the breadcrumbs. If they don't stick well, you can moisten the dumplings with a little water beforehand. Then, fry them until they're slightly crispy on the outside.
For this salad, you can use any seasonal fruits and vegetables. In December, for example, apples, kale, Brussels sprouts, parsnips, beets, savoy cabbage, endive, or radicchio are all great choices. This time, I opted for chicory, which I usually never eat because I find it too bitter. However, in contrast to the pear, persimmon, and caramelized walnuts, I really love it. The vinaigrette is a simple shallot vinaigrette that you can mix in a bowl or simply put all the ingredients in a jar with a lid and shake vigorously. Of course, you can replace the walnuts with any other nuts – if you're not comfortable with caramelizing them or it's simply too much work, it's perfectly fine to just toast the nuts briefly in a dry pan.
We're going to happily roll onto the sofa now – what a themed week!
