Pear Lettuce Salad with Maple Dijon Vinaigrette
March 12, 2009 by Culinary Cory
Filed under Salads
This was the salad for my Saturday Dinner Party.
Ok, I’ll admit it. There have been very few restaurants in Pittsburgh that have inspired me to recreate a dish I have ordered. I can see the hate mail filling my inbox now. You see. It’s not that I think Pittsburgh restaurants are bad…I just haven’t been inspired by the ones I’ve tried. An exception has been a similar salad I ordered at a fancy downtown restaurant a few weeks ago. I loved how the crisp sweet pears balanced perfectly against the punch of bleu cheese, and the lettuce perfectly tossed with maple vinaigrette.
In order to properly recapture the true essence of my pear salad experience, I had to turn to my maple guru for just the right recipe. Since Kevin from Closet Cooking lives in Canada, I knew he would be no stranger to the maple syrup experience. Sure enough, I found the perfect Maple Dijon Vinaigrette recipe for my Saturday Dinner Party. Thank you Kevin for making my guests squeal like a pig in the mud.
Pear Lettuce Salad
1 (9 oz.) package spring mix greens, prewashed
2 peeled pears, cored and sliced
1 Tbl. lemon juice
2 oz. bleu cheese, crumbled
2/3 cup toasted pecans, roughly chopped
¼ cup red onion, sliced thin (optional)Maple Dijon Vinaigrette
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 Tbl. Dijon mustard
1 Tbl. garlic, minced
pepper to tasteTo prep the pears: Gently toss the sliced pears with the lemon juice until all cut sides are coated. Set aside.
To prepare the dressing: In a small mixing bowl, whisk all ingredients until well emulsified. The dressing should be a light yellow color. Keep vinaigrette chilled in the refrigerator until ready to toss with the greens.
To assemble the salad: In a large mixing bowl, toss a small amount of the vinaigrette with the greens until the leaves are lightly coated. Add additional vinaigrette if needed. Pour the coated greens into a serving bowl. Evenly distribute the pears, blue cheese and toasted pecans across the top of the salad. Serves 4 – 6 as a side.
Authors Note: I originally planned to include thin red onion slices to the salad to help add another fresh element to the flavors. However, they were sadly forgotten in the refrigerator until just after all the guests left. The salad was still amazing and refreshing addition to the meal.
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Thanks for sharing this recipe! I used the maple dijon dressing on a roasted beet and spinach salad, since I had some beets in the fridge that were just begging to get eaten and needed a dressing to go with, but I’ll definitely be trying it again with pears sometime soon.
Oh! That is so wonderful Isabelle! What a great idea for the dressing. I have some fresh spinach in my fridge right now. Yum!
Yum. This sounds delicious! I’ll have to try it soon.
That sounds DELISH! I’ll definitely make and share that one!
This salad looks amazing! The maple dijon dressing makes it even better! Yumm!
Totally going to steal this recipe – when my hubby isn’t home or bring it for my lunch. He doesn’t like fruit in salad – and his go to is iceburg lettuce!
Thanks for sharing!
Maple dijon vinaigrette – that’s what I was missing! I made this same pear salad for dinner guests a few weeks ago and did just a simple red wine vinaigrette, but maple would have been so much better. Next time for sure!
I find that trying to think of unique salad ideas can be the hardest part of creating a menu. This one sounds delicious!
That is a really nice looking salad!
Wonderful looking salad, love the combinations!
The vinaigrette is killer!
Ooh, I love adding pears to my mixed greens. I’m definitely going to try your maple vinagrette too, it sounds delicious. Great in combination with the pears and bleu cheese. Such a lovely, lovely salad!!
Oops, forgot have added good post! Waiting on your next post!
Ooh, I love adding pears to my mixed greens. I’m definitely going to try your maple vinagrette too, it sounds delicious. Great in combination with the pears and bleu cheese. Such a lovely, lovely salad!!
Such a picturesque salad!!