This is a contemporary salad which has actually been around for quite a while now and we regularly prepare it as part of our cooking holiday in France. I think it has achieved classic status.

The only thing that needs any preparation to speak of is the dressing, but the pears do need to be ripe and juicy – comice are perfect for this – and the parmesan needs to be shaved from a fresh block (if you haven’t got any to hand, a good strong cheese like stilton or feta will do very nicely indeed, but completely forget about using that dirty sock-flavored sawdust sold in pots, laughingly labeled ‘Freshly Grated Parmesan’).