Summer salads: Pear and chicory salad with spiced pecans and roquefort dressing recipe

Spicing and salting the pecans is well worth it – the only problem is resisting the temptation to eat them all before the salad is made! Lovely to eat on its own or with grilled pork. Serves 4 3 heads of chicory 150g mixed salad leaves 75g pecans Pinch of cayenne pepper 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce ½ tsp salt Dash of Tabasco sauce 3 pears, peeled and sliced into eighths Juice of half a lemon 1 tbsp olive oil For the dressing 100g roquefort cheese (at room temperature) 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp red wine vinegar 1 tbsp creme fraiche Salt and pepper 1. Separate the leaves from the chicory. Cut the larger leaves in half lengthways, wash and spin together with the mixed salad. Toss together in a bowl. 2. Mix the pecans with the cayenne pepper, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and salt. Place them on a baking tray and toast them in a medium oven (160C/gas mark 3) for about 10 minutes. Allow to cool. 3. Make the dressing by blending all the dressing ingredients together in a blender until it is the consistency of double cream. 4. Add the sliced pears to the leaves, dress with the lemon and oil, drizzle with the blue cheese dressing and sprinkle with the spiced pecans.