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

Everybody 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 chew 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 type mixture I crave regardless of the season. Similar to my remaining Italian platter salad, Greek Cobb Salad, and my Nicoise salad, I wish to serve this pear salad with gorzonaola on a platter or in an enormous, shallow serving dish—the place there’s no want for tossing and I can avoid the entire good, chunky bites disappearing on the underside of a bowl.

Why You’ll Love It

• This easy pear salad recipe is the fitting stability of candy and tart and matches so deliciously with every little issue
• It’s fast and easy to rearrange, and serving it on a platter makes for a delightful presentation when entertaining
• You most likely can merely change up the cheese or nuts, and even add protein, like this lemon and rosemary roast hen (that you might be 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 (in any other case you most likely can use retailer model that you just simply just like)

Dijon French dressing ingredients

• Seasoned rice vinegar—that is my go-to vinegar for Dijon French dressing, however I alter it up often, and apple cider vinegar, crimson wine vinegar, white balsamic, or champagne vinegar are all good selections
• Shallots—for barely punch (you most likely can use crimson onion in case you want)
• Dijon mustard—for barely tang, together with some thickness
• Additional-virgin olive oil—use high quality oil in case you can (I like cold-pressed, single-origin olive oils)
• Kosher salt and freshly flooring black pepper—regularly, for type

Uncover the entire recipe with measurements beneath

Among the best methods to Make the Dijon French dressing Dressing

You possibly can even make this dressing as quite a bit as 2 weeks upfront, retailer it all through the fridge, then ship it to room temperature ahead of utilizing. It’s furthermore scrumptious drizzled on cooked greens or as a fast marinade for hen.

• Select your vessel: Whisk the dressing in a bowl or shake it in a jar with a lid. Each strategies work accurately, however I do uncover I get a thicker, additional emulsified dressing after I slowly whisk the oil into the vinegar.
• Add the Dijon, minced shallots, and vinegar ahead of along with the oil. The acid from each the mustard and vinegar mellows the warmth of the shallots however 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 giant straightforward by along with every little issue without delay to a glass jar, screw tight with a lid, and shake to emulsify. Season with kosher salt and freshly flooring black pepper, along with additional of every to kind.

Select Your Combine

• Choose a mixture of tender lettuces. I’ve change proper right into a stalker of the right tender leaves of fluffy butter lettuces and regionally grown baby crimson 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 chew that balances the sweetness of the salad’s fruit and nut toppings and provides shade to the salad. Substitute chopped purple cabbage if radicchio isn’t your difficulty.

Add the Candy Crunch of Candied Pecans and Pears

• Make the candied pecans on the stovetop in three easy steps. Cinnamon and nutmeg type these fast candied nuts. Add a pinch of cayenne, chili powder, or smoked paprika for additional warmth.
• Select firm however 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 possibly a diced white cheddar may very well be tasty.
• Costume the salad merely ahead of serving. This helps the fragile lettuces sustain largest.

Recipe Additions & Variations

Storage Suggestions

The Dijon French dressing will hold saved in a jar or hermetic container all through the fridge for as quite a bit as 2 weeks. I don’t counsel slicing your pears upfront, as they may oxidize and swap brown and a bit mealy. Do-it-yourself candied pecans will hold in an hermetic container for 1-2 weeks.

What to Serve with This Pear Salad

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