Yesterday, I wrote about making honey roasted pecans because Rich thought they’d be nice for munching.
I thought they’d be perfect for this salad; a combination of Belgian endive spears, romaine lettuce, roasted sliced pears, blue cheese, pomegranate arils, a bit of fresh topped parsley on top, and a very pleasant port wine, shallot, and orange juice vinaigrette.
I was right; this is a flippin’ fantastic salad!
INGREDIENTS
Dressing:
•1/2 tsp dried shallot
•1/2 tsp Caribbean Calypso Seasoning*
•3 tbsp orange juice
•1/8 tsp coarse sea salt
•1 tsp Port
•1/3 cup veggie oil
•Freshly ground black pepper
Salad:
•3 red Anjou pears, cored and sliced
•Belgian endive
•Chopped Romaine
•Blue cheese
•Pomegranate seeds
•Honey rosemary roasted pecans
•Fresh chopped parsley
*No Caribbean Calypso? No Worries! Use 1/4 teaspoon or so of freshly grated citrus zest and 1/4 teaspoon of Cayenne.
Make the dressing by combing the shallots, Caribbean Calypso, orange juice, sea salt, and port together in a mini food processor. Pulse to blend, then, with the processor running, drizzle the oil in through the little holes in the top.
Once the vinaigrette has absorbed the oil, taste and add pepper, if you think it needs it. I did.
No mini food processor? No worries! Simply whisk the oil into the remaining ingredients until your vinaigrette has emulsified.
Heat your oven to 400º and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Halve and core the pears, arrange on the baking sheet, and roast for ten minutes and set aside to cool.
To assemble the salad, arrange the endive leaves around the edge of a platter with the chopped Romaine in the center. Scatter the blue cheese, pomegranate arils, roasted pears and pecans, and the chopped parsley over the top.
Drizzle with the vinaigrette.