Seasonal French Pears, Mesclun, Cashews and Gorgonzola
We were fortunate to be able to get most of the ingredients for this recipe from my friends at Campagne when I lived in Park City, Utah. They would bring in great produce and cheeses and the salad mix is the same as you would get at many of the gourmet restaurants in Park City.
mesclun (MEHS-kluhn) A combination of fancy, young salad greens once hard to find but now popular and available prewashed in the produce section of your supermarket in the Bag O Salad section. The mix usually contains a combination of arugula, dandelion, frisee, mizuma, oak leaf, radicchio and sorrel.
Gorgonzola – (gohr-guhn-ZOH-lah) Named for the Italian city where it is made, this cow’s milk cheese is rich and creamy with a slightly pungent flavor. When aged over 6 months, both the flavor and the aroma become stronger….much stronger.
Some people think its stinky, but if you like strong cheese, you will love gorgonzola.
The salad dressing is a simple tarragon mustard vinaigrette.
This photo shows cashews instead of pine nuts but either would be great on this salad.
Ingredients
For the Dressing
1 tablespoon shallots, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey
1/3 cup chopped tarragon
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
Salt & freshly ground pepper
2/3 cup olive oil
For the Salad
1/3 cup pine nuts (also called pignoli)
2 French pears, thinly sliced
1 pound mesclun
1/4 lb. gorgonzola
How To Prepare At Home
Chop the shallots and tarragon. Get the rest of the ingredients together and you are ready to go.
Dressing
Combine all the ingredients except the oil into a small mixing bowl.
Slowing drizzle in the oil while whisking until you have a smooth consistency.
Salad
Toast the pine nuts in a pan over medium heat. The pine nuts have a high fat content so be careful not to burn them.
Combine the mesclun, pine nuts, gorgonzola and dressing in a large salad bowl and mix.
Serve on individual salad plates and top the each plate with slices of pear.
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