Bitter Greens Salad with Pear, Bleu Cheese, and Candied Pecans

posted on November 14, 2013

Bitter Greens Salad with Pear, Bleu Cheese, and Candied Pecans is a salad with all the elements — bitter, sweet, salty, and crunchy — that just satisfies and keeps you coming back for more.  It’s the perfect salad for holidays, entertaining, or any time you want to make a meal extra special.

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It’s been a while since I’ve shared a salad on my blog, which is surprising as much as I eat them.  I really haven’t been making them at home lately as I have them at cooking school every day in some form.  I enjoyed this Bitter Greens Salad with Pear, Bleu Cheese, and Candied Pecans at school weeks ago, and fell for it instantly.  The bitter curly endive, radicchio, and Belgian endive with the sweet Bartlett pear, salty bleu cheese, and crunchy, candied pecans is one winning combination. 🙂

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Now, maybe you’re against making your own salad dressing because it’s one more step that you feel that you don’t have time for?  You have time for this one — it literally takes 1 minute to throw it together.  It’s a combination of red wine and balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and salt and pepper.  The combination of vinegars gives this dressing a really unique flavor that highlights all the ingredients perfectly.

For holiday meals, I usually always serve my Cranberry Pear Salad, and it’s been a hit for about 13 years!  This year I’m going to have to kick it to the curb and serve this one.  It’s about time I serve a different salad for holidays — traditions need to be broken sometimes, no?  I know without a doubt that this salad will be a hit, too….possibly for the next 13 years. 😉

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Bitter Greens Salad with Pear, Bleu Cheese, and Candied Pecans
 
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Bitter Greens Salad with Pear, Bleu Cheese, and Candied Pecans is a salad with all the elements -- bitter, sweet, salty, and crunchy -- that just satisfies and keeps you coming back for more. It's the perfect salad for holidays, entertaining, or any time you want to make a meal extra special.
Serves: 6-8 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 small head radicchio, washed and torn into pieces
  • 2 Belgian endive, core removed, halved, washed well and sliced thinly lengthwise
  • 1 head of curly endive, washed and torn into pieces
  • 2 Bartlett pears, stemmed, cored and chopped into ¼" thick chunks
  • 4-6 onces bleu cheese, crumbled
  • 1 cup candied pecans
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
  1. Place the radicchio, Belgian endive, and curly endive in a large salad bowl. Add the chopped pear, bleu cheese, and candied pecans. Set aside.
  2. In a small bowl, whisk the vinegars and ½ teaspoon salt and some freshly ground black pepper, Whisk in the olive oil slowly, in a steady stream. Add more salt and pepper if desired. Toss the dressing with the salad just to coat, and serve immediately. Store any remaining dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Tante Marie Cooking School, San Francisco, CA.

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