Sweet Autumn Salad with Creamy Pear Vinaigrette
Celebrate the wonderful colors and sweet tastes of Fall with this super-quick to make salad! Pears, apples, pecans, dried cherries, apricots and yellow tomatoes have come out of summer hiding and are ready to play with beautiful crisp greens and earthy Manchego cheese. Finished with a drizzle of Creamy Pear Vinaigrette makes this scrumptious salad a must-try!
Servings: 3 to 4
Ingredients
- 1 small head romaine lettuce separated into leaves
- 1 small head red-leaf lettuce separated into leaves
- 1 large yellow tomato sliced (or red tomato if yellow not available)
- 1 large ripe red or green pear
- 1/2 cup unsweetened dried apricots
- 1/3 cup unsweetened dried cherries
- 1/3 cup toasted pecans
- 2 tablespoons pomegranate seeds
- 2 ounces Manchego Viejo cheese cut into matchstick-sized pieces (or Pecorino Romano or Asiago)
Instructions
- Place greens on a large decorative serving platter.
- Arrange remaining salad ingredients on top. Drizzle salad with Creamy Pear Vinaigrette.
Notes
Make Ahead and Storage Tips: salad may be assembled (undressed) up to 6 hours ahead. Lightly coat pears and apples with lemon juice to prevent browning. Cover and refrigerate. Drizzle salad with dressing before serving. Store leftover salad covered in the refrigerator; use within 1 day.
If pear is very hard when purchased, simply place in a tightly rolled-up paper bag for about 2 days or until soft to the touch. Do not allow to become overripe.
Be creative by using any combination of greens that are available seasonally such as mesclun, oak and butter lettuces, escarole, arugula, baby spinach, baby kale and radicchio.
Manchego Viejo is a hard sheeps’ milk cheese with a complex earthy flavor, hailing from the La Mancha region of Spain. It has been produced there for thousands of years, specifically on the Iberian Peninsula. Manchego can be found in some supermarkets as well as in specialty and natural food stores. Read more about this incredible cheese and its history as well as recommended substitutions here.
Other Autumn salad additions that would be lovely are dates, figs and toasted pistachios, hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts.
Two Autumn salads you may also enjoy are Apple 'n Root Veggie Slaw and Butternut Squash Ribbon Salad with Apple-Dill Vinaigrette.
