Roasted pears and arugula salad with millet balls

For about a month I’ve been totally fascinated by combinations of fruits and veggies in the dishes. I usually go to the local market, search for some kind of fruit and start to think which veggie will be the perfect match. So, there were apricots with patty-pans and now I introduce you arugula and pear couple.
I’ve loved pears since I remember. They are one of my favourite fruits. I like they hard, gritty texture. This unusual consistency of pear’s pulp is due to specific cells which are building this fruit. They are called sclereids (stone cells) and have thick, lignified walls.
Besides the texture I also love their taste. They are delicious raw, but also roasted. Baking gives them deep, a little heavy taste. For me, roasted pears are perfect for summer ending and sunny, warm autumn.
Of course when we think about arugula and pears, a salad will always come to our minds. So you will not be surprised by my salad, probably.

Of course I add some walnuts, because in my opinion there is a great taste connection between walnuts and pears.
So far nothing weird pops up.
Usually in those kind of salad, some cheese is used. Since it’s vegan one, there should be something else. An ingredients which is quite filling, but also light.
I don’t want to add tofu, because I think is too heavy and dense. So I made a little balls from cooked millet and they fit amazing. Millet is highly nutritive, but delicate in taste. I think millet dominated my kitchen completely. I constantly make dishes with it. Mayonnaise, garlic sauce for pizzas, varieties of stuffing. But it is the first time I made such a cute thing from millet. These balls are so adorable, that I almost ate them all, before adding to the salad.
They could be served as a snack, no doubt. I can’t understand why I haven’t made them earlier!

Ingredients:
5 servings

100g arugula
3 pears (about 450g)
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp canola oil
½ cup walnuts (50g)

Millet balls:
¼ cup uncooked millet
juice form ¼ lemon
salt, pepper, za’atar

Vinaigrette:
3 tbsp olive oil, extra-vergine
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
pich of sugar
salt, pepper

Wash and drain arugula. Chop walnuts. Peel peers and cut out the cores. Cut into cubes. Mixed pear wirh 2 tsp of sugar and 2 tsp of canola oil. Bake for 15 minuts in single year in 180C (360F). Stir frequntly.
Combine all vinaigrette ingredients.

Cook millet (proprtions: ¼ cup millet- ½ cup water). Add lemon juice and season with salt, pepper and za’atar. Set aside to cool down a little. Form little (teaspoon size) balls and fry them on frying pan but with no oil!
Mix all arugula, roasted pears, walnuts. Add vinaigrette. Season with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

Nutritional info:

Whole (5 servings):
1209 calories
protein: 22 g; fat: 83 g; carbohydrate: 114g, dietary fibre: 20 g;
iron:5,2 mg; calcium: 240 mg; zinc: 3,8 mg

1 serving:
241 calories
protein: 4,5 g; fat: 16 g; carbohydrate: 23g, dietary fibre: 5 g;
iron:1 mg; calcium: 48 mg; zinc: 0,8 mg