Pear and Blue Cheese Salad
Featuring a classic combination of flavors, this pear and blue cheese salad makes a captivating start to any meal. Beginning with a striking bed of radicchio is the key to both beauty and balance here. Gorgeous in color and practically silken in texture, heaps of freshly torn radicchio leaves provide a deliciously bitter backdrop against the fragrant sweetness of pears, tangy punch of blue cheese, and rich earthiness of hazelnuts. This dramatic, and nourishing, salad is always welcome when the weather turns cold.
Servings 4 servings
Ingredients
Salad
- 1 medium head radicchio torn into pieces
- 2 small to medium pears (firm, but ripe) thinly sliced lengthwise
- about 4 ounces blue cheese crumbled
- about 4 ounces hazelnuts (raw or toasted) whole or roughly chopped
Dressing
- ΒΌ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Crumble the blue cheese into small pieces (and chop the hazelnuts, if preferred to leaving them whole).
- Remove the outermost leaves of the radicchio (rinse briefly under cool water to remove any remaining dirt or debris), cut it in half, and remove the core. Then tear the radicchio into pieces.
- Halve and core each pear. Then cut lengthwise into thin slices.
- Combine the torn radicchio and sliced pear in a large bowl.
- Whisk the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, and honey together until well combined. Season with salt and pepper.
- Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently to coat.
- Sprinkle the blue cheese and hazelnuts generously over the top and serve.