Chicory and Lamb's Lettuce Salad with Pear, Persimmon, and Dumpling Croutons

There are skills in the kitchen that I'm pretty good at (like tossing things in a frying pan or cutting veggies neatly), but of course, there are also a few things I don't necessarily score high on. At the top of that list is estimating quantities realistically. Maybe it's in my genes because my grandmother usually cooks enough for a whole village, even though there are only six of us at the table. Principally, there's nothing wrong with that because it's better to have too much food than not to have enough of it, isn't it? The leftovers can often be used the next day, which ends up in a vicious circle for me, though. Let's assume that I cooked too much rice. It will be fried the next day, but I also add so many vegetables that I can't eat all of them. So now I have vegetable fried rice leftovers, which then also have to be consumed the following day. So the next day, I add a sauce to the dish, and - you can guess it - it's way too much. I'll stop my execution at this point because you already got the point.

Still, there is one thing I prepare too much of on purpose because I'm already looking forward to the leftover meal the next day: it's dumplings! The leftover ones can be pan-fried and eaten with the remaining red cabbage, vegan goulash, or whatever you served it with. But this is really not a recipe that I have to write down here - and yet we wanted to give you a recipe for the leftover dumplings as the big finale of our theme week.

The result is a winter salad with dumpling croutons, which is certainly a pleasantly fresh change from the hearty dishes that you've eaten the days before. You can make this recipe with any pre-cooked dumplings. All you have to do is chop them up and coat them with breadcrumbs. Basically, these are deconstructed butter crumbs, which are perfect for sprinkling on dumplings. We just toss to coat the dumpling chunks directly in the breadcrumbs. If they don't stick, just moisten he dumplings with some water. Then fry them until they become a little crispy on the outside.

For the salad, you can use any vegetables and fruits which are in season. Now in December, you could use apples, kale, Brussels sprouts, parsnips, beet, savoy cabbage, endive, or radicchio, to name a few. I chose chicory this time, which I usually never eat because it's too bitter for me. However, in contrast with the pear, persimmon, and caramelized walnuts, I actually really liked it. The vinaigrette is a simple shallot vinaigrette that you can mix in a bowl. Alternatively, you just pour all the ingredients into a jar and shake it vigorously. You can substitute the walnuts with any other nut - if you're not comfortable with caramelizing , you can also toast the nuts briefly in a grease-free pan.

And now we're rolling happily onto the sofa - what a theme week that was!