VegTab: Amer pear blue cheese salad

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* Exported from MasterCook *

 

American Pear Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing and Roasted Hazelnuts

 

Recipe By :Deborah Madison

Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:00

Categories : 2002-09-11 Salads

 

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

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1/3 cup hazelnuts

1 small garlic clove

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

4 tablespoons crumbled Maytag -- or less to taste

or other good-quality blue cheese

6 tablespoons olive oil -- to taste

3/4 cup buttermilk or homemade mayonnaise

freshly ground pepper

4 large ripe Comice or bartlett pears

tender arugula leaves -- several handfuls

or watercress leaves

 

To toast nuts: Preheat an oven to 350F. Toast the hazelnuts until the skins have

begun to separate from the nuts, about 12 minutes. Remove and let cool briefly,

then rub them in a towel to loosen the skins. Don't worry if not all the skins

are frilly removed -- that usually happens. (If most of them adhere, send them

back to the oven for another 5 minutes.) Chop them coarsely and set aside.

 

To prepare dressing: Finely mince the garlic with the salt, then put it in a

bowl and stir in the lemon juice and the cheese. Mash the mixture with a fork

until smooth. Whisk in the oil, the buttermilk or mayonnaise, and a little

pepper, then taste. Correct the balance, if needed, with more lemon juice or

oil. Set aside.

 

To prepare fruit: Peel the pears, cut them in half, and remove the core and the

stem with a pear corer or a melon baller. Set them cut side down on the cutting

board and slice them crosswise, at an angle, about 1/3 inch thick.

 

To assemble: Slide the knife under each sliced pear half and transfer them to

individual plates, placing a halves on each plate and fanning out the slices.

Garnish the plates generously with the greens (or you can set the pears on the

greens) and spoon the dressing over the pears and the leaves. Sprinkle the nuts

over all and serve.

 

Source:

" Vegetarian Table: America by Deborah Madison 1996 "

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Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 397 Calories; 31g Fat (66.2% calories

from fat); 5g Protein; 30g Carbohydrate; 5g Dietary Fiber; 7mg Cholesterol;

281mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 1 1/2

Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 5 1/2 Fat.

 

NOTES : Complicated little salads based on stuffed and sauced fruits were a

feature of ladies' luncheons in the forties and fifties. Some seem a bit

peculiar now, but one that caught my eye was a winter Nellis pear stuffed with

blue cheese and covered with french dressing. While this particular salad may

not be the one for us today, the alliance of pears and blue cheese is heavenly,

and nuts complement both. I serve these pears with arugula, which may actually

be easier to come by than the good watercress that was traditional. Both are

excellent. Any extra dressing will keep well, refrigerated, for a week or more.

 

 

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 168 0 0 228 0 4410 900048 0