This Pear Salad is a stellar mixture of flavors 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 clean evaluation to use as the leafy base.
that is a tremendous salad option for a starter or as a stylish aspect salad!
Pear Salad with Blue Cheese
That is a salad that’s all approximately classic and herbal pairings, matters we usually see on cheeseboards. That’s due to the fact they just paint so nicely collectively, yet you may now not have an idea about combining them in a salad. combos like:
- Fruit and blue cheese
- Fruit and honey
- Fruit and nuts
- Cheese, honey, and nuts (have I protected all combinations there? )
Oh, plus a few leafy veggies. This transforms our “cheese board” right into a salad!
It’s a delicious manner to apply pears once they’re in season for something apart from dessert (which includes this Pear Pistachio Tart or this Pear Blue Cheese Slice). It’s also one that blue cheese fans can get enthusiastic about!
What goes in Pear Salad with Blue Cheese
Right here’s what is going into this Pear Salad:
PEARS
I truly use 1 1/2 pears which for me is a pleasant quantity for a whole bundle of rocket/arugula (fashionable length 120g / 4oz that is round five packed cups). in case you want a greater pear-ahead salad, sense unfastened to use more pears, it’s really up to you.
first-class kind of pears – Use any range you need, so long as they’re ripe. I used Beurre Bosc pears (those with the cinnamon-colored skin) which are pretty common and true values right here in Australia when in season. Packham, Josephine, Corella Pears, even nashi pears – they all work.
BLUE CHEESE
Fine to use one this is barely creamy but firm sufficient to be crumbled, like pictured. As a key element of this salad, the higher the cheese, the higher the dish! here are my favorites:
- Roquefort – made from sheep’s milk, this well-known French cheese is creamy enough to be spreadable but company sufficient to crumble. that is my favorite to apply for most blue cheese salads. other French blues i love to use: St Agur, Fourme d’Ambert, Bleu d’Auvergne. those are offered at maximum Harris Farms and some Woolies these days (Australia).
- Gorgonzola – An Italian blue that stages in texture primarily based on range, from extremely creamy to extra crumbly. I like gorgonzola piccante (90 days elderly, creamier, most rounded flavor), accompanied by the higher cost gorgonzola dolce (60 days elderly, milder, and excellent value for money).
- British Stilton – barely sharper than the above two, this cheese is not for the faint-hearted! try to get an aged one for a smoother flavor.
extra options: Danish blue cheese is likewise a good choice for a higher-cost choice. And for folks who are new to blue cheese, Blue Castello is a superb one initially (the most mild, and top price). Australia also produces a few remarkable blues these days that aren’t hard to discover like those from King Island.
avoid blue cheese that is like brie (ie. too creamy to collapse on salad) or in reality firm and crumbly, which might be too crumbly to paste to the salad elements (they simply fall to the bottom of the bowl).
ROCKET ARUGULA
I suppose this peppery lettuce is ideal for this salad due to the fact the pointy flavor contrasts well with all the other tastes going on. A more impartial leafy green, like toddler spinach, wouldn’t virtually carry whatever to this dish in my view.
WALNUTS
Walnuts are a traditional desire for a blue cheese salad. though in reality, other nuts will paintings just as properly like almonds, pecans, and hazelnuts. I wouldn’t use peanuts (a bit atypical, I assume?) or macadamia nuts (perhaps too rich with blue cheese).
Honey Mustard Dressing for Pear Salad
I opted for a Honey Mustard Dressing right here because honey with pears, walnuts, and cheese is a classic pairing. candy, savory, nutty, creamy, juicy – it pushes all the proper buttons!
- Honey – For the flavor, sweetness and to thicken the dressing.
- Dijon mustard – additionally to assist thicken and emulsifying the dressing even as adding a hint of tang and flavor.
- Cider vinegar – the principal tanginess within the dressing. Any mild(ish) vinegar will paintings in its area – white wine vinegar, champagne or sherry vinegar,
- greater virgin olive oil (or regular olive oil) – The higher the oil, the better the dressing! if you have flavored nut oils like hazelnut or walnut oil, they’d additionally be amazing to apply as a substitute right here.
What to serve with Pear Salad
AS A STARTER
That is a salad that’s best for serving as a starter. in no way underestimate the strength of an excellent salad as a starter! If it’s thrilling sufficient like this and has a piece of wow aspect, it sets an incredible tone for the rest of the meal.
MEAL
As a meal, serve it with a side of domestic-made bread if you would love to have a light but satisfying meal:
AS A SIDE SALAD
As an aspect salad, due to the fact the blue cheese makes it pretty wealthy (even though every serving simplest as a little fall apart) try to serve it with something that doesn’t have an overwhelmingly robust sauce. otherwise, you’ll just have too many flavors competing on your plate – and we need this salad to shine!
right here are a few suggestions:
Roast bird – A lovely conventional roast chook served with the herb-garlic-butter pan juices
Crispy Herb Roast fowl pieces – that is a circle of relatives favorite to make in large batches
top Rib (Standing Rib Roast), Marinated Roast pork, or Marinated pork Steak – big beefy flavors are a remarkable pairing with blue cheese usually.
red meat! both roast beef (with crackling, of course!), beef chops with a savory rub or Lemon Garlic marinated beef chops.
