Roasted Pear Salad with Honey Butter Dressing Recipe

Winter brings the fruits of the Pacific Northwest pear harvest to our supermarket produce aisles and this salad of Bosc or d'Anjou pears has become an annual favorite around here when the cold winds blow. (Pears can be held in cold storage for up to six months after their fall harvest with little or no deterioration of flavor or texture, if picked before they are ripe. Ripening them at room temperature is actually considered preferable to tree-ripening, which can make pears mealy or mushy.)

Got Pears?Here are some more pear recipes from the Stephencooks archives:
Pear Bread Pudding
Pear Gorgonzola Bacon Pizza
Crab, Brie & Pear Pizza
Roasted Beet and Pear Salad
Duck with Roasted Pears

This recipe, like a lot of the ones you find here at Stephencooks, was adapted from another one. I got some nice pears for my Seared Sea Scallops with Roasted Pears when planning a dinner for some new friends but then got an email answer to my usual question to guests about allergies and strong likes or dislikes: "serious seafood allergy - no seafood of any type or quantity!" This salad -- using a vegetable broth instead of fish broth, and serving the pears with a vinaigretted knot of baby spinach and scallion threads instead of seared scallops -- was the result of my last minute menu change for the evening.

I served this with the Fusion Flank Steak and the peppery accents of the steak went well with the sweetness of the pears.

Roasted Pear Salad with Honey Butter Dressing

2 firm ripe Bosc or d'Anjou pears
1 C white wine
1/2 C vegetable broth
1/4 C honey
3 oz unsalted butter
2 tsp chopped garlic
2 T tomato paste
1/4 C basic vinaigrette dressing (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, hot sauce, crushed garlic clove, dijon mustard)
6 oz baby spinach leaves, washed and well-dried
scallion slivers
kosher salt, to taste
hot sauce, to taste

Halve and core the pears. Toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil and a pinch of salt. Roast in a 300º oven about an hour, until light brown and just tender. Cool and slice each pear into twelve wedges. Sauté the garlic in a little oil for a few seconds and then add the broth, tomato paste and wine to pan. Reduce liquid by half. Add honey and bring to a simmer. Add butter, stirring constantly until it melts. Season to taste with salt and hot sauce.

To serve, toss the spinach leaves in the vinaigrette and place some on each plate. Toss the pears in the honey butter sauce and arrange on the plates. Drizzle on more honey butter sauce. Garnish with the scallion threads.

Note: a crumbled bit of goat cheese, gorgonzola or Sprout Creek Farm ouray makes a nice addition to this salad.

February 20, 2008 | Permalink

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Roasted Pear Salad with Honey Butter Dressing

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