Red Wine Poached Pear Salad

with goat cheese, cinnamon roasted almond slices and a rosemary red wine pear vinaigrette

I can’t recall exactly where I was at when I saw this on the menu … perhaps it was the funky little spot in Minneapolis I stopped at for lunch?I’m not sure, and I’m not sure what crazy strangeness took over me that I didn’t ORDER it, but when I saw it on the menu, I remembered the Rosemary Red Wine poached pears I made last year and oh how very good they were, and I thought of the Cinnamon Roasted Almonds I have in my cupboard, and the goat cheese in my cheese drawer. I could taste the salad on my tongue almost …

When I got home, I went out and bought mixed greens and perfectly ripe pears just to make this salad, stuck them in the fridge and didn’t get around to making this until Sunday. By that time the pears were looking a little battered and the greens, well, they were far past their prime. I was greatly disappointed in myself; however, once peeled and poached, the pears were just fine (maaaahvelous!) and the greens, well, I found enough good ones in there to salvage for the salad. It wasn’t as many greens as I really like, but we are midwinter here (yes, I know it’s only November here, but I’m telling you there’s some sort of time warp going on because we are in full swing winter mode here!) so yeah, it’s not quite prime salad season, if you know what I mean. The little flower you see there is a volunteer in one of the herb pots I brought in for the winter, a tiny little spot of sunshine and color in the midst of our midwest winter-arium.

But hey, if you’re going to eat a salad in midwinter, this is the salad to have. Pears poached in red wine are so festive and they taste fabulous with creamy goat cheese, crunchy sweet almonds, midwinter greens and a tangy vinaigrette. It would be the perfect salad to grace a holiday table. You can make up the poached pears and the roasted almonds ahead of time and assemble it all in a few minutes on serving day.

Red Wine Poached Pear Salad

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 10 minutes

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Ingredients

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• Rosemary Red Wine Poached Pears, sliced (recipe here)

For the rosemary red wine pear vinaigrette:

• 6 Tablespoons of the syrup from poaching the pears
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• A sprinkle of dried dill
• A dash of granulated garlic
• A dash of onion powder

For the salad:

• Mixed greens
• Thinly sliced red onions
• Goat cheese crumbles
• Cinnamon roasted almond slices (recipe here)

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Instructions

1. Poach the pears, reserving some of the poaching syrup for the salad dressing. Let the pears cool and then cut the pears lengthwise into slices.
2. To make the dressing: Pour all the dressing ingredients into a jar and shake vigorously to mix. Set aside.
3. Fill your salad plate or bowl most of the way with greens. Arrange poached pear slices on top, tuck in the red onions, sprinkle with goat cheese crumbles and almond slices. Drizzle with some of the dressing and enjoy!

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Notes

Prep time does not include the time for poaching pears and roasting almonds.

RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/

© Copyright 2014, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.

This recipe was shared at Tuesday’s Table, Simple Supper Tuesday, Treasure Box Tuesday, The Wednesday Roundup, Wine’d Down Wednesday,  Foodie Friends Friday, The Weekend Social, Moonlight & Mason Jars and Hearth & Soul Bloghop.