Pear and Cheese Salad

 

Roasted Pear and Cheese Salad

Hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day !  We had our dear friends from out of town visit overnight before Valentine's Day - then had friends from our neighborhood over for a Valentine Dinner.

I made this salad, shrimp scampi, and chocolate mousse.

This is a recipe I found years ago online and have not made it for a long time.  Glad I thought of it again, because it was a big hit.  I will list the ingredients...but I made a lot of substitutions, and I will mention those in the directions.  Here we go - 

Ingredients

3 ripe but firm Anjou pears

Freshly squeezed lemon juice - 3 lemons

3 ounces coarsely crumbled blue cheese

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

1/2 cup apple cider

3 Tablespoons port

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup olive oil

6 ounces baby arugula

Kosher salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Recipe calls for Anjou pears...we prefer Bartlett, so that is what I used.

The recipe calls for the pears to be peeled...I keep the skin on as I think it adds a nice texture. I spray them with fruit and veggie wash and give them a good scrub.

Cut the pears in half...

and slice a thin amount off of the back so the pears will sit firmly in the baking pan.

Just a bit!

Use a knife to remove any leftover stem or hard parts of the pear..

and use a melon baller or spoon to hollow out the pear for the filling.

I did not have enough lemons, so I used lemon juice from a bottle - and since I was making these in advance I put the juice in the bottom of the pan...

then set the pears with the large cut side down in the juice so they would not get brown.  At this point I put them in the refrigerator while I did some other chores.

I forgot to take a photo of mixing the filling...I used feta cheese, low sugar craisins, and pecans.  I told you...I mixed it up!

Then in a bowl I mixed orange juice ( not apple cider) and brown sugar, and no port - did not have any!

Mixed it all well and poured it over and around the pears.

Bake for 30 minutes.

When the pears are done baking, remove and place on a bed of lettuce.  I used a mixture of baby butter leaf and green mix.

Pour the liquid from the pan into a measuring cup and whisk in the olive oil.

Pour over the pears and salad greens, sprinkle with a little kosher salt, and serve.

We had a great evening - and I had fun setting the table for our Valentine Dinner.

That table cloth was gifted to my parents as a wedding gift in 1939!

I use it often - and yes, it shows wear - but I have a needle and thread handy to fix any rips.  Love using it instead of it sitting in a drawer.

I made napkin rings out of Dollar Tree heart ornaments leftover from Christmas and told our guests to take them home as a favor.

We had a great time!  I love to entertain and when I saw this quote in a magazine I thought it was the perfect thought...

I even found heart shaped pasta to complete my dinner party theme!

Did you host any guests for Valentine's Day?  Or did you celebrate with a dinner out ?  Whatever - I hope you had a lovely day.

Thanks so much for stopping by Our New Vista.  Please leave a comment below.  I love hearing from you!

And thank you to Niky from The House On Silverado for picking my Viking Mars post as a feature on this week's Sundays on Silverado!

Have a great week !