This pear salad with creamy gorgonzola cheese and candied pecans drizzled with an excellent and tangy Dijon French dressing dressing is the suitable companion to any winter dinner.

All folks wants a simple inexperienced salad of their repertoire. This pear salad with gorgonzola is made collectively collectively along with your favourite mellow greens and radicchio’s considerably bitter-spiced chunk and is topped with ever-so-slightly under-ripened pears that add a crispness to match the crunch of easy-to-make candy candied pecans. It’s all dressed with a simple do-it-yourself Dijon mustard dressing and topped with pinches of creamy gorgonzola cheese. It’s the yin and yang fashion mixture I crave irrespective of the season. Very like my remaining Italian platter salad, Greek Cobb Salad, and my Nicoise salad, I need to serve this pear salad with gorzonaola on a platter or in an infinite, shallow serving dish—the place there’s no want for tossing and I can avoid your full good, chunky bites disappearing on the underside of a bowl.

Why You’ll Love It

• This easy pear salad recipe is the suitable steadiness of candy and tart and matches so deliciously with the entire thing
• It’s fast and straightforward to rearrange, and serving it on a platter makes for a lovely presentation when entertaining
• You may merely change up the cheese or nuts, and even add protein, like this lemon and rosemary roast rooster (which you would possibly serve shredded on extreme to make this salad a meal)

Pear Salad Elements

Correct proper right here’s what’s on this pear salad:

• Lettuce—a mixture of spring greens, butter lettuce, and radicchio
• Pears—go for barely under-ripened ones in order that they’re firm, not mushy. Any alternative or mixture of your favorites
• Creamy gorgonzola cheese (or frequent blue cheese works too)
• Candied nuts–I like candied pecans from this recipe (otherwise you would possibly use a wonderful retailer model that you just similar to)

Dijon French dressing ingredients

• Seasoned rice vinegar—that is my go-to vinegar for Dijon French dressing, nonetheless I modify it up usually, and apple cider vinegar, pink wine vinegar, white balsamic, or champagne vinegar are all good choices
• Shallots—for significantly punch (you would possibly use pink onion for people who favor)
• Dijon mustard—for significantly tang, together with some thickness
• Additional-virgin olive oil—use a wonderful high quality oil for people who can (I like cold-pressed, single-origin olive oils)
• Kosher salt and freshly floor black pepper—frequently, for fashion

Uncover your full recipe with measurements beneath

Study the best way to Make the Dijon French dressing Dressing

You possibly can make this dressing as loads as 2 weeks prematurely, retailer it contained in the fridge, then convey it to room temperature earlier than utilizing. It’s furthermore scrumptious drizzled on cooked greens or as a fast marinade for rooster.

• Select your vessel: Whisk the dressing in a bowl or shake it in a jar with a lid. Each strategies work appropriately, nonetheless I do uncover I get a thicker, additional emulsified dressing as quickly as I slowly whisk the oil into the vinegar.
• Add the Dijon, minced shallots, and vinegar earlier than along with the oil. The acid from each the mustard and vinegar mellows the warmth of the shallots nonetheless nonetheless retains that French bistro vibe.
• Combine the dressing. Whereas whisking, slowly drizzle the olive oil into the substances till thickened and full-bodied. Or, make this dressing massive simple by along with the entire thing on to a glass jar, screw tight with a lid, and shake to emulsify. Season with kosher salt and freshly floor black pepper, along with additional of every to style.

Select Your Combine

• Choose a mixture of tender lettuces. I’ve change proper right into a stalker of the suitable tender leaves of fluffy butter lettuces and domestically grown child pink leaf lettuces in my grocery retailer’s produce division. Select any of your leafy favorites for this pear salad.
• Then add a radicchio crunch. This Italian inexperienced provides a evenly bitter chunk that balances the sweetness of the salad’s fruit and nut toppings and provides colour to the salad. Substitute chopped purple cabbage if radicchio isn’t your challenge.

Add the Candy Crunch of Candied Pecans and Pears

• Make the candied pecans on the stovetop in three simple steps. Cinnamon and nutmeg fashion these fast candied nuts. Add a pinch of cayenne, chili powder, or smoked paprika for additional warmth.
• Select firm nonetheless not arduous pears for the salad. Any number of pears works for this salad, as long as they aren’t overripe and mushy. For arduous pears, set them on the countertop with bananas shut by to ripen inside a day or so.

Drizzle with Dressing and Add the Cheese Please

• Creamy gorgonzola or a firmer blue cheese provides to this salad’s tang. Substitute goat cheese or perhaps a diced white cheddar could possibly be tasty.
• Costume the salad merely earlier than serving. This helps the fragile lettuces protect up most attention-grabbing.

Recipe Additions & Variations

Storage Ideas

The Dijon French dressing will keep saved in a jar or hermetic container contained in the fridge for as loads as 2 weeks. I don’t advocate slicing your pears prematurely, as they are going to oxidize and alter brown and a bit mealy. Do-it-yourself candied pecans will keep in an hermetic container for 1-2 weeks.

What to Serve with This Pear Salad

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