Winter Salad With Ripe Pears

Beef Tenderloin with Reduced Roasted Shallots and Wine Gravy

This Winter Salad With Ripe Pears can be a beautiful addition to your holiday table – the combination of green and red in this dish lends a festive and elegant touch to the Christmas theme! Serve with Beef Tenderloin, Wild Rice Pilaf and Apple Butter dressing for an elegant meal.

Christmas Dinner Plan

Winter Salad With Ripe Pears Ingredients

3 tbs red wine vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 cup lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
3 medium pears, peeled, cored and cut each pear into 16 wedges
1 wedge Parmesan cheese (4 ounces)
2 small heads radicchio
2 small heads of Belgian endive
2 bunches of arugula (4 ounces each)
2 cups of romaine lettuce, chopped
1/2 cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped (optional)

Winter Salad With Ripe Pears Instructions:

In a large bowl, mix the vinegar, mustard, lemon juice, sugar, salt, and pepper together with a wire whisk. When all the sugar has melted, gradually whisk in olive oil until well blended.
Add pear wedges; toss to coat pears with the dressing. Put aside.
With a vegetable peeler, shave 1 cup of shavings from the Parmesan cheese. Set aside.
Add the radicchio, endive, arugula, and romaine lettuce to the bowl with pears. Toss to coat evenly.
Serve salad topped with Parmesan shavings and nuts (optional).

Comment: This salad was another hit at our Christmas Party. The vinaigrette was very light and a wonderful subtle compliment to the ripe pears in the salad. Omitted the pecans in this salad since the Wild Rice Pilaf already had pine nuts in it. However, this is optional and may make a good addition to this salad.