Poached Pear & Blue Cheese Salad
Anyone who knows me knows I’m cheese mad. I love all kinds, especially the amazing selection we have here in Ireland. Cashel Blue is one of my favourite blue cheeses. The combination of flavours here match so well they have to be tried to be believed. This will make a fantastic snack with a good beer or a glass of wine or serve it as a starter for a dinner party. Either way, if you like blue cheese I bet you'll love it.
Ingredients
4 pears
400ml water
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp sugar or honey
1 tsp cinnamon or ½ cinnamon stick
200ml white or red wine
8 streaky rashers
100g Cashel blue cheese or similar
6 Brioche rolls or 1 brioche loaf
RASPBERRY DRESSING
100g fresh raspberries
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp honey or more if needed. Taste to check
Instructions
1
Peel the pears and place in a pot.
2
Add the water, wine, cinnamon, sugar or honey and vanilla extract.
3
Cover, bring to the boil and simmer for around 25 minutes, check the pears, they should be soft with a little bit of a bite. Drain the liquid and allow the pears to cool.
4
Grill the rashers till crispy. When cooked remove from the grill and pat dry with kitchen paper to remove the oil. Allow to cool.
5
Make the dressing, see below.
6
Thinly slice the brioche and toast each side until crispy.
7
Dice the pears into cubes.
8
Place in a bowl and crumble in the blue cheese, then gently mix.
9
Place in the centre of a bowl or plate top with the crispy rashers and drizzle the dressing on top.
10
RASPBERRY DRESSING
11
Blitz everything together in a food processor or with a stick.
Taste and add more honey if it is too bitter.
How many pears is this recipe for ?
It uses 4 pears Siobhan.
Liam