Pear, walnut and blue cheese salad

Salad with pear, walnut and blue cheese is a classic combination of sweet, creamy, slightly bitter and nutty flavours. The pear adds freshness and gentle sweetness, the blue cheese provides strength and creaminess, while walnuts and walnut oil give the salad depth.

This salad is simple, yet still has a refined character. Serve it as a starter, light lunch or side dish.

Serves: 4
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 0 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

For the salad

• 2 ripe but firm pears
• 100 grams mixed salad leaves, lamb’s lettuce or rocket
• 75 grams blue cheese, such as Roquefort or Bleu d’Auvergne
• 50 grams walnuts
• 1 small shallot

For the dressing

• 3 tablespoons walnut oil
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey
• ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

1. Wash the salad leaves
   Wash the salad leaves and dry them well.
2. Toast the walnuts
   If desired, briefly toast the walnuts in a dry frying pan. Leave them to cool and chop them coarsely.
3. Crumble the blue cheese
   Crumble the blue cheese.
4. Finely chop the shallot
   Peel the shallot and chop it very finely.
5. Mix the dressing
   For the dressing, mix the walnut oil with the vinegar, honey, mustard, shallot, salt and pepper.
6. Slice the pears
   Cut the pears into quarters, remove the cores and slice the flesh into thin wedges.

Method

1. Arrange the salad leaves
   Arrange the salad leaves on a platter or on 4 plates.
2. Add the pear
   Place the pear wedges on the salad leaves.
3. Add the cheese and walnuts
   Scatter the blue cheese and walnuts over the top.
4. Add the dressing
   Spoon the dressing over the salad just before serving.
5. Serve the salad
   Serve immediately.