Roasted Pear, Bacon and Pecan Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 5 ripe but firm pears
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 125g bacon lardons or thick cut bacon pieces
• ½ cup pecans

Vanilla vinaigrette

• 2 tbsp sherry vinegar or cider vinegar
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• seeds scraped from 1 Heilala Vanilla Bean
• ¼ cup olive oil

 Method

1. Preheat the oven to 400⁰F. Line a shallow baking tray with baking paper.
2. Peel, quarter and core the pears and toss with the oil. Arrange on the baking tray in a single layer.
3. Roast pears for 40-45 minutes, turning the pears every 15 minutes. In the final 15 minutes of roasting, sprinkle over the bacon lardons and in the final 5 minutes, sprinkle over the pecans.
4. Serve roasted pears drizzled with the vanilla vinaigrette (recipe below).

For the vinaigrette

1. In a small bowl place the vinegar, Dijon mustard, brown sugar and vanilla seeds. Whisk to combine. Drizzle in the olive oil, whisking well until emulsified. Alternatively, make vinaigrette in a screw-top jar and shake well before using.