Romaine Salad with Pears, Blue Cheese and Pecans

Our traditional Thanksgiving menu, overloaded with mashed potatoes, bread stuffing, and syrupy sweet potatoes, begged for something else. I wanted to add a salad, and lucky for me, my mother-in-law understood and found this recipe for romaine salad with pears, blue cheese and pecans.

This salad delivers, with enough self-confidence and poise to hold its own on any table, and balance out all that starch. Now, a big bowl of green crisp romaine lettuce, with blue cheese crumbles, perfectly ripe pears and crunchy sweet pecans, is an official and welcome side at our Thanksgiving feast. For this I am thankful.
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There’s another tradition I treasure–the grateful alphabet game. Once we are all seated, our plates full and grace said, we go around the table. Grandpa starts with A. He says, “I am grateful for…art.” Whoever sits next to him, B, says, “I am are grateful for…balloons!” Next, C, says, “um…colors!” We go around, and everyone has their chance to be grateful, more than once. We get to Z and the last person says they are grateful for zebras… or zippers…or zee wonderful food.

Make this romaine salad with pears, blue cheese and pecans—when the letters, S, P, or B come around they will be grateful for salad, pears or pecans and blue cheese.

Romaine Salad with Pears, Blue Cheese and Pecans recipe details:

• You can wash and tear the lettuce into bite-size pieces earlier in the day or the day before. Wrap the leaves in a tea towel and tuck into a resealable plastic bag. Keep refrigerated.
• Be gentle with the lettuce–tear it with your fingers, instead of chopping with a knife—torn lettuce looks and keeps better.

• Prepare the vinaigrette ahead too, but make sure it’s at room temperature when you toss it with the lettuce–you want to coat the lettuce lightly and that’s not easy with congealed olive oil.
• Crumble your blue cheese from a block–the quality and flavor is generally better than the crumbles that come n a plastic container. I used a Wisconsin blue cheese from Costco.
• If you wish, serve this salad on individual chilled plates. Place a mound of dressed lettuce on each plate, and then garnish with the pear slices, the blue cheese and lastly the pecans.
• A lettuce spinner is the kitchen tool we use almost every day. If you don’t already own one, hint around and you might get one for Christmas. (Amazon link.)
• If you can get your hands on Slide Ridge Honey Wine Vinegar—hold on tight. It has the most amazing flavor and takes this salad up a notch. It’s available online via my Amazon link. A good substiture is 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar plus 1 tablespoon honey.
• You might also like this Wilted Spinach Salad with Green Lentils and Pecans.

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4.88 from 8 votes

Romaine Salad with Pears, Blue Cheese and Pecans

Make this winner of a salad a holiday tradition that everyone remembers. You can prep everything ahead and put it together at the last minute. This recipe yields more dressing than needed for the salad. Save the rest for later.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Total Time20 minutes mins

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American, Vegetarian

Keyword: salad, blue cheese, pears, pecans, Thanksgiving

Servings: 8 servings.

Author: Letty | @lettyskitchen

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons honey wine vinegar (see note)
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 head romaine lettuce
• 2 barely ripe pears (I used Bartletts)
• 4 ounces (¾ cup) blue cheese crumbles
• ½ cup toasted pecans

Instructions

• Whisk the vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper together in a bowl. (see note)
• Gradually drizzle in the olive oil, about a teaspoon at a time, whisking all the time, to make a smooth dressing.
• Wash the lettuce leaves, dry well. Tear into bite-size pieces.
• Just before serving, put about half of the vinaigrette in a large bowl. Add the lettuce and toss to coat the leaves lightly. Toss in a little more dressing if you think it’s needed, keeping in mind the lettuce should be lightly coated, not weighed down in oil.
• Build the salad in two layers: Transfer half of the dressed lettuce to a serving bowl. Core and slice the first pear and arrange it over the lettuce. Sprinkle with half of the blue cheese and half of the toasted pecans. Repeat with a second layer.

Notes

• If you don’t have honey wine vinegar, substitute apple cider vinegar plus 1 tablespoon of honey.
• The mustard provides flavor bite and acts as an emulsifier—to keep the vinegar and oil from separating. Add the oil slowly so the mustard can do its emulsify thing.

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