This Pear Salad is a stellar mixture of flavours paying homage to your favorite cheeseboard: juicy pear with piquant pops of blue cheese, toasty walnuts and a Honey Mustard Dressing. Peppery rocket (arugula) is a perfect refreshing distinction to make use of because the leafy base.
This is a wonderful salad choice for a starter, or as a trendy aspect salad!
Pear Salad with Blue Cheese
It is a salad that’s all about basic and pure pairings, issues we *at all times* see on cheeseboards. That’s as a result of they only work so properly collectively, but you might not have considered combining them in a salad. Combos like:
✓ Fruit and blue cheese
✓ Fruit and honey
✓ Fruit and nuts
✓ Cheese, honey and nuts (have I lined all combos there? ?)
Oh, plus some leafy greens. This transforms our “cheese board” right into a salad!
It’s a scrumptious approach to make use of pears after they’re in season for one thing aside from dessert (corresponding to this Pear Pistachio Tart or this Pear Blue Cheese Slice). It’s additionally one which blue cheese lovers can get enthusiastic about! ??♀️
What goes in Pear Salad with Blue Cheese
Right here’s what goes into this Pear Salad:
Pears
I really use 1 1/2 pears which for me is a pleasant quantity for an entire bundle of rocket/arugula (customary dimension 120g / 4oz which is round 5 packed cups). In order for you a extra pear-forward salad, be happy to make use of extra pears, it’s actually as much as you.
Greatest kind of pears – Use any selection you need, so long as they’re ripe. I used Beurre Bosc pears (those with the cinnamon-coloured pores and skin) that are pretty widespread and good worth right here in Australia when in season. Packham, Josephine, Corella Pears, even nashi pears – all of them work.
Blue Cheese
Greatest to make use of one that’s barely creamy however nonetheless agency sufficient to be crumbled, like pictured. As a key ingredient on this salad, the higher the cheese, the higher the dish! Listed below are my favourites:
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Roquefort – Made out of sheep’s milk, this well-known French cheese is creamy sufficient to be spreadable however agency sufficient to crumble. That is my favorite to make use of for many blue cheese salads. Different French blues I like to make use of: St Agur, Fourme d’Ambert, Bleu d’Auvergne. These are offered at most Harris Farms and a few Woolies lately (Australia).
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Gorgonzola – An Italian blue that ranges in texture based mostly on selection, from extremely creamy to extra crumbly. I like gorgonzola piccante (90 days aged, creamier, most rounded flavour), adopted by the higher worth gorgonzola dolce (60 days aged, milder, and glorious worth for cash).
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British Stilton – Barely sharper than the above two, this cheese is just not for the faint hearted! Attempt to get an aged one for a smoother flavour.
Extra choices: Danish blue cheese can also be a superb choice for a greater worth choice. And for many who are new to blue cheese, Blue Castello is an efficient one to begin with (probably the most delicate, and good worth). Australia additionally produces some glorious blues lately that aren’t exhausting to seek out like these from King Island.
Keep away from blue cheese that’s like brie (ie. too creamy to crumble on salad) or actually agency and crumbly ones, that are too crumbly to stay to the salad substances (they only fall to backside of bowl).
Rocket (arugula)
I feel this peppery lettuce is good for this salad as a result of the sharp flavour contrasts properly with all the opposite tastes happening. A extra impartial leafy inexperienced, like child spinach, wouldn’t actually deliver something to this dish in my opinion.
Walnuts
Walnuts is a basic alternative for a blue cheese salad. Although really, different nuts will work simply as properly like almonds, pecans, hazelnuts. I wouldn’t use peanuts (bit odd, I feel?) or macadamia nuts (perhaps too wealthy with blue cheese).
Honey Mustard Dressing for Pear Salad
I opted for a Honey Mustard Dressing right here as a result of honey with pears, walnuts and cheese is a basic pairing. Candy, savoury, nutty, creamy, juicy – it pushes all the fitting buttons!
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Honey – For the flavour, sweetness and to thicken the dressing.
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Dijon mustard – Additionally to assist thicken and emulsify the dressing whereas including a contact of tang and flavour.
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Cider vinegar – The principle tanginess within the dressing. Any delicate(ish) vinegar will work instead – white wine vinegar, champagne or sherry vinegar,
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Additional virgin olive oil (or peculiar olive oil) – The higher the oil, the higher the dressing! If in case you have flavoured nut oils like hazelnut or walnut oil, they’d even be fantastic to make use of as an alternative right here.
What to serve with Pear Salad
As a starter
It is a salad that’s perfect for serving as a starter. By no means underestimate the facility of a superb salad as a starter! If it’s attention-grabbing sufficient like this and has a little bit of wow issue, it units an amazing tone for the remainder of the meal.
Meal
As a meal, serve it with a aspect of home-made bread if you need to a light-weight however satisfying meal:
As a aspect salad
As a aspect salad, as a result of the blue cheese makes it fairly wealthy (despite the fact that every serving solely as a little bit crumble) attempt to serve it with one thing that doesn’t have an overwhelmingly sturdy sauce. In any other case, you’ll simply have too many flavours competing in your plate – and we would like this salad to shine!
Listed below are some strategies:
Get pleasure from! – Nagi x
PS No video immediately because it’s a “straightforward salad day” the place I’m sharing 3 pretty straight ahead recipes (this salad, Roasted Giant Mushrooms with Inexperienced Onion Thyme Butter and Chargrill Charlie’s Copycat Japanese Slaw). However in case you actually desire a video for this one, simply depart a remark under and I’ll do it once I get an opportunity!
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Pear Salad with Blue Cheese and Rocket
Prep: 15 minutes
Aspect Salad
Western
Servings5 – 6 as a aspect
Faucet or hover to scale
Directions
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Dressing: Shake Dressing in a jar.
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Pears: Halve then scoop out core. Place reduce face down and slice into 3mm / 0.12″ slices. (Notice 2)
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Walnuts: Unfold on tray and toast in a 180°C/350°F oven for 8 minutes or till they odor nutty. Go away some entire, break some in half with palms.
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Costume rocket: In a big bowl, toss rocket with 2 tbsp Dressing.
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Assemble: Pile 1/3 rocket on a platter. Scatter with 1/3 pears, 1/3 walnuts, 1/3 blue cheese crumbled into small chunks. Repeat twice extra. Drizzle with remaining Dressing simply earlier than serving.
Recipe Notes:
My favorite (so as): Roquefort (different French blues I like: St Agur, Fourme d’Ambert), Gorgonzola Piccante, Gorgonzola Dolce, good British Stilton. For a superb worth choice, go for a Danish. In the event you’re blue cheese-shy, Blue Castello is a protected wager – very delicate.
Typically with cheese, you get what you pay for.
2. Slicing pears – The slices shouldn’t be paper skinny, and even so skinny they fully “flop”. They need to have a slight bend when picked up with a fork, as pictured in submit. However they shouldn’t be so thick that they crack once you stab with a fork!
Quantity to make use of: 1 1/2 pears is the proper quantity to me for the desired quantity of rocket. In order for you a extra pear ahead salad, use extra.
Cease pears browning: If not assembling in 30 min, drizzle evenly with lemon juice to cease them from going brown.
Vitamin Info:
Energy: 266cal (13%)Carbohydrates: 9g (3%)Protein: 9g (18%)Fats: 23g (35%)Saturated Fats: 6g (38%)Polyunsaturated Fats: 10gMonounsaturated Fats: 6gTrans Fats: 1gLdl cholesterol: 18mg (6%)Sodium: 509mg (22%)Potassium: 241mg (7%)Fiber: 2g (8%)Sugar: 6g (7%)Vitamin A: 760IU (15%)Vitamin C: 4mg (5%)Calcium: 186mg (19%)Iron: 1mg (6%)
Lifetime of Dozer
Dozer, the nice and cozy glow of sundown is flattering on you! If solely your snout wasn’t lined in slobber splatters and also you didn’t have a speck of eye snot in your cheek…… ?