Alsatian field salad

(Elsässer Ackersalat)

A quick and easy salad for which I am not able to give exact amounts of ingredients. I always prepare it give or take a bit.

Preparation time: about 20 minutes
Suggested music: The subjonctiv song! (I ate this salad for the first time at a family celebration when I was 14. At the same time, I got my first CD player. And my first CD was Celine Dion. Now I am in France, and Alsace is also in France, so it has to be a french song. This one features many verbs in the dreaded verb form of the subjonctiv. Yeah!)

Ingredients:

• Field salad (for 1-2 persons)
• 1-2 pears (they don't have to be very soft, they will soften in the pan)
• soy sauce
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• optional: some walnuts

What to do:

1. Wash the salad and put into a bowl.
2. Wash the pears and cut into quarters. Slice these into about 0.5 cm thick pieces.
3. Heat a bit of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the pears and saute until they become slightly translucent.
4. Remove from heat and deglaze with a bit of soy sauce (don't use too much, it might become to salty). When it has stopped steaming, add some balsamic vinegar. (Do NEVER add the vinegar to the really hot pan! This will smell awfully like acetic acid and hurt in your nose!)
5. Pour over the salad, add the optional nuts, mix and serve immediately.