Pear and Danish Blue Cheese Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette

My hubby's family eats a lot of fruits, I really mean it. Sometimes we stopped by for a short visit, we will also end up with bags or full box of fruits to take home with. Keep in mind that it's only two of us here. This time my mother-in-law told the vendor to drop-off some fruits to us directly instead. There're bananas, apples, lychee, peaches, and pears. Pear sounds great, on top of eating pears as it is, it's pretty versatile for savory dishes too. I can turn pears into Korean barbecue marinade, or salad with some blue cheese like this recipe below.

Pear and Danish blue cheese salad with red wine vinaigrette - 

Ingredients (for two portions)?

• 1/2 or 1/4 Asian pear 
• 50 grams blue cheese 
• 1 medium small box mixed salad greens
• 12 to 14 roasted candied walnuts
• Some extra virgin olive oil 
• Some black pepper

Dressing:

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon granulated sugar

How?

Peel and remove the core inside the pear. Cut into bite size chunks then thinly slice the pear. Depending on the size of the pear, about half or a quarter should be enough.

Peel and finely chop the garlic. Mix the chopped garlic together with all other ingredients listed under the "dressing" section. Stir or shake well till the sugar has been fully dissolved.

If not sure about the acidity level, start with 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar first. Taste and adjust the amount of vinegar used accordingly. 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar will give you a more sourish taste, which I enjoyed a lot, not my hubby though. Need to tone down the vinegar used for his portion.

Transfer the salad greens to a big bowl and pour over the dressing. Toss till blended. Transfer the salad greens to serving plates.

Crumble some blue cheese over. I used creamy Danish blue cheese, gorgonzola works great too. Arrange pear slices and candied walnuts throughout.

Lastly, drizzle extra virgin olive oil if preferred, also crack some black pepper right before serving. 

This is also a vegetarian version of pear and blue cheese salad. However, smoked salmon or prosciutto can be added if you'd like.

Family love overload, but no complaints there, we are feeling blessed. Now that pears are gone, time to tackle other fruits piling up in the fridge.

Extended reading:

• Colorful chickpea salad with white wine vinaigrette