Winter Green Salad – Poached Pears

Remove kale from the stalks
Wash and finely chop along with the baby spinach leaves
Top and tail the green beans
Trim broccoli
Place a large saucepan pan on full heat with water and bring to the boil with the lid on. Blanch the broccoli and green beans for 3 minutes. Pay particular attention not to over cook the green beans. They should be al dente and firm with a good crunch
Remove from the heat and refresh immediately with cold water to stop any further cooking
Roughly dice the cucumber and remove the seeds from the pomegranates
Chop the walnuts
Drain the artichokes and cut them into 1/4s and set aside until it is time to build the salad
Cut the pears into 16 thin segments and remove the cores
Layer all of the ingredients up in a bowl until all is used
Dress with 50ml of the vinaigrette and sprinkle in toasted sunflower seeds
Mix well
This bowl will serve 10 portions of salad

To remove the pomegranate seeds:

Half fill a large mixing bowl with cold water
Cut the pomegranate in half
Tap the outside of the pomegranate facing the water with the back of a large spoon allowing the seeds to fall into the water
Once all of the seeds are in the water and have sunk to the bottom, take a small sieve and remove any pith that may be floating on the top of the water and discard it
Using the same sieve drain off all of the water and return the pomegranate seeds to the mixing bowl with the salad