Yummmmmm. I honestly am not a huge pear fan when it comes to just eating a pear. But put them in something and I LOVE them! The other thing I absolutely love is a good balance of sweet to salt or wine as the case may be. This salad has a great combination of flavors and just oozes fall. Ingredients 1 cup red wine (I used a merlot) 1 shallot 2 cloves garlic 1 tablespoon dijon mustard 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil 2 cups whole walnuts 1 egg white 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 head romaine lettuce 2 pears, peeled and sliced a dash of cinnamon a sprinkle of brown sugar 1 cup crumbled gorgonzola Preparation Instructions In a small saucepan over high heat reduce the wine until only about half remains. Allow to cool to room temperature. In a blender combine the wine, shallot, garlic, dijon mustard and vinegar. Blend until smooth, then remove the center of the blender lid and with the blender running, slowly pour the olive oil in a stream to form an emulsion, refrigerate until needed. Preheat the oven to 350º. Next beat the egg white until soft peaks form, fold in the 1/2 cup brown sugar until smooth then fold in the walnuts until evenly coated. Dump onto a rimmed baking sheet, lined with parchment or a baking mat, spread evenly around so there is just one layer of nuts. Bake for about 12 minutes or until puffy and slightly browned around the edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature and break into small pieces. Put the oven on broil and put the pear slices on another rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment or a baking mat and toss with the cinnamon and sugar and broil about 5 minutes or until just a little soft and oozing the juices a bit. You may need to toss them a couple times so they bake evenly. Put them in the fridge to cool. Chop the lettuce to desired size, I personally don’t like to cut my salad while I am eating it and I find it a nuisance to have enormous lettuce leaves, so I cut lettuce very small. But that’s just me, you can do what you want. Put it in the salad bowl, top with nuts,pears and cheese, season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper and toss with the dressing. Serve immediately.
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