Blue Cheese And Pear Salad With Candied Pecans |
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Prep Time: 0 Minutes Cook Time: 0 Minutes |
Ready In: 0 Minutes Servings: 8 |
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I found this recipe a couple years ago (on another recipe site) and made some alterations to suit our tastes - it was love at first bite. The pecans add this wonderfuly sweet, crunchy taste, while the mustard dressing adds a nice tanginess, mellowed by the honey and sugar. Read more . It may sound like an odd combination, but the flavors all come together beautifully when the salad is tossed together. Ingredients:
candied pecans |
1/4 cup white sugar |
1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped |
dressing |
⅓ cup olive oil |
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar |
1 tablelspoon white sugar |
a good shot of honey (i'd guess i squirt in about a heaping tablespoon) |
11/2 teaspoons prepared mustard |
1 clove garlic, minced |
1/2 teaspoon salt |
2 or 3 twists of fresh ground black pepper |
salad ingredients |
1/2 head iceberg lettuce, chopped into bite-size pieces (or you can use romaine) |
1/2 bag of spinach, chopped into bite-size pieces |
2 pears, peeled and cored and chopped, and sprinkled with fruit fresh to prevent browning |
6 ounces roquefort or blue cheese, crumbled (i prefer to use a block of blue cheese so i can make bigger chunks than what you usually get in the pre-crumbled cheese tubs) |
1/2 cup chopped sweet onion |
Directions:
1. Prepare the pecans first, so they can cool off.
2. In a skillet over medium heat, stir 1/4 cup of sugar together with the pecans (watch carefully, as these will burn easily - you want a hot flame, but not so hot that it will scorch the sugar).
3. Continue stirring constantly until sugar has melted completely and the pecans are beginning to turn a beautiful caramel color.
4. Carefully (I say carefully because this is some HOT stuff - don't burn yourself) transfer nuts onto a cutting board to cool completely, seperating the nuts as they cool (otherwise they will cool in a big clump and you will need to break it all up, making for some not so pretty candied pecans!).
5. NOTE - VERY IMPORTANT! Do not put the nuts on waxed paper to cool - I did that the first time I made this, not realizing that the nuts would stick to the waxed paper...I couldn't remove them to save my soul - I had to throw out the entire batch and start all over!! I've found that my cutting board works best - you can scrape up any stuck nuts with a spatula, and it's easy to clean up.
6. For the dressing, blend oil and vinegar together with a whisk, then add remaining dressing ingredients, whisking until it is well blended (it will tend to seperate as it sits, so just give it a good stir before dressing the salad with it).
7. Set dressing aside until ready to serve the salad.
8. When ready to serve, toss lettuce, spinach, pears, blue cheese, and onions in a large bowl.
9. Pour dressing over salad, sprinkle with pecans; toss and serve immediately.
10. Unfortunately, this salad does not keep well once it is dressed . Scale it down (or increase amounts) to make only what you think you will eat at one time. The dressing will keep well in the refrigerator for some time, so extra dressing is not a problem - it will be ready and waiting next time you're craving this salad.
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