Pear and Pecan Salad

There is a delicious pizzeria by Jare’s work and every once in a while, I will go down and bust him out for an hour and we have lunch together.  The pizza there is good.  Authentic wood fired pizza that always is a 10/10 good.  Once we decided to split a salad and a pizza, because balance.  It was amazing!  You know a salad is good when you go back and are trying to decide between ordering pizza and a pear and pecan salad. A salad.

I knew I wanted to recreate this and after a couple tries, success!!   Once you make this you will be hooked!

This pear and pecan salad has a mix of baby arugula and spinach, fresh pears, candied pecans, mild and creamy fontina cheese, and poppy seed dressing. It's honestly amazing and so refreshing!

In this recipe I will tell you how to make homemade poppy seed dressing and your own candied pecans.  Both of which are truly easy.  But, if you need something easier buying good quality poppy seed dressing and candied pecans from the store works perfectly fine.  Then all you need to do is assemble!

 

 

Candied Pecans

Candied pecans takes this pear and pecan salad to another level.   This recipe makes a little more than you need for the salad which is a good thing because it is literally impossible not so sneak some before adding them to the salad.  Especially since making them makes your house smell unbelievable.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Pecan Halves
• 1 medium Egg White or 1 tablespoon egg whites
• ½ tablespoon Water
• ½ cup Granulated Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon kosher or sea Salt

How to make Candied Pecans:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a bowl combine egg whites and water.  Whisk until frothy.  Pour pecans into egg whites and stir until coated.

In separate bowl combine sugar, cinnamon, and salt.  Pour cinnamon sugar mixture over pecans and stir until pecans are coated.

Spread pecans into single layer onto parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake for 40-45 minutes, stirring halfway.  Once done remove from oven and let cool completely.  The pecans will be soft when still warm and will harden as they cool.

Candied pecans can be made in advance and stored in an airtight container or made the day of.  If making the day of start these first thing as these take the most time.

 

 

Homemade Poppyseed Dressing

Ingredients:

• ½ cup Mayo
• 2 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Poppy Seeds
• 5 tablespoon Granulated Sugar

How to make Poppyseed Dressing:

In a small bowl add mayo, apple cider vinegar, poppy seeds, and granulated sugar.  Whisk together until creamy.  Regular mayo, light mayo, or olive oil mayo can be used for this recipe.

Any extra dressing can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 6 months.

 

Assemble Salad:

To insure the pear and pecan salad tastes as fresh as possible I like to assemble this as close to serving as possible.  It should only take 5 minutes to thinly slice pears and grate the fontina cheese. Once that is done everything just needs to be combined in one large bowl and tossed together.

When adding the poppyseed dressing, less is more.  Also, make sure you wait until right before serving to incorporating the poppyseed dressing.  Don't add the dressing and let the salad sit for longer than 15-20 minutes as it will become soggy.

If I am having this with dinner I like to set out all the components separately and let each person build their own salad.

How to Store:

Store all the components separately in the fridge to avoid sogginess.

After poppyseed dressing has been mixed with greens it really is only good for that day.  If you know you will have extra only put salad dressing on what you plan to eat and store the rest of the components separately.

The candied pecans will last in the fridge for weeks and same with the dressing.

If you make this pear and pecan salad it would mean  the world to me if you would take a minute and leave a star rating and or a comment.  Reading through them really brightens my day!

Alli