29 October 2009

Simple green salad with poached pears


I couldn't say I had ever poached a pear before this past Sunday. Boy, was I missing out! Poaching the pears was easy and delicious. They really classed up this simple salad of lettuce sprinkled with a little bit of blue cheese, but they would also be fabulous as a light dessert. This was definitely a guest impressing dish for very little work. Enjoy!

Simple green salad with poached pears by Joie de vivre

Ingredients:

2 cups of red wine
2 Tbls. lime juice
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 stick of cinnamon
3 firm fleshed pears
Romaine lettuce
Blue cheese crumbles

Directions:

1. Place the wine, lime juice, sugar and cinnamon stick in a large saucepan and bring it to boil.
2. Halve your pears and remove the skin. Use a melon baller to scoop out the seeds and then run it along the inside middle to remove the core.
3. Once your liquid is boiling, place the pears into it. Turn down the heat until the liquid is just gently simmering. Simmer the pears for 4 minutes, then turn them over in the liquid and simmer for an additional 4 minutes.
4. Turn off the heat and leave the pears in the cooking liquid for 20 minutes.
5. Place a leaf or two of Romaine lettuce on each plate. Top with a poached pear and crumble some blue cheese on top. Voila!
6. To make it extra fancy, bring your poaching liquid back to a boil and boil for just a minute or two until it is a little syrupy. Drizzle a little of the syrup over the salad.

32 comments:

chow and chatter said...

looks yummy, what happened to weight loss mondays by the way? love Rebecca

Heather said...

i love poaching pears. this sounds delicious :)

Jenn said...

I started poaching fruit only this year. It's so good. You've got yourself a healthy salad there.

Sarah said...

Poached pears are delicious! One of my easy go to desserts. The salad looks fantastic.

Anonymous said...

A salad with poached par sounds excellent! Yum!

Laura in Paris said...

Oh, very nice salad. I need more of those these days - and less of the rest! Ha ha ha

Hopie said...

Ooh, I agree with you about poaching pears. Poached peaches are pretty delicious too (although it's a bit late for them now). Nice to keep the syrup too - good idea!

Inspired by eRecipeCards said...

poached pears are a terrific dessert (or salad). Great presentation, with the illusion of difficulty

Your photo is mouthwatering

Bob said...

I'll eat almost anything poached in red wine. Looks lovely!

Hopie said...

I made a tart with poached peaches earlier this season (http://hopieskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/09/almond-peach-tart-in-easy-steps.html) and I poached them in a sweet white dessert wine. I bet they'd be good in red wine too though.

Lori Lynn said...

Such a nice looking salad. We were at a school cooking dinner event last night, and the students made poached pears for dessert.

Happy Halloween! I bet the boys are having a blast about now. My nephews are the Mario Bros.
LL

Rhyleysgranny said...

I never would have thought of using poached pears in a salad. What a good idea. I think I'll make this tonight. I don't have blue cheese in the fridge but i do have Feta. Thank you for the lovely idea :)

Wandering Coyote said...

I've never poached a pear, either...It's something I always think I'd like to do but don't seem to get around to actually doing. Nice to see you back! Hope all is well!

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

What a lovely salad. I can't say that I've ever poached a pear, but I'm thinking I should.
Sam

Barbara said...

Such a pretty salad...poaching pears really is fun and easy. Great with the blue cheese but think I would have to add some toasted walnuts!

Reeni said...

The pears sound absolutely delicious! Love the combo of flavors in the salad!

Laura in Paris said...

I had friend for dinner last night, and your poached pears were in my mind (I love pears). I served them for dessert, delicious! I poached them in a light syrup of honey and water, where I infused a vanilla bean! THank you for the idea!

Angie's Recipes said...

I have never had a poached pear salad...it looks very delicious!

Anonymous said...

I've never poached a pear either, but this sounds delightful!

Juliana said...

Oh! Salad with poached pear...looks delicious, I should try it :-)

Kitchen Butterfly said...

I loved pears. I've been making a pan grilled salad of pears marinaded in maple syrup and sherry vinegar and serving it on salad with pecans and cheese. Yummy...

Karine said...

That is a great idea to use poached pears in your salad! thanks for sharing :)

http://gonnawantseconds.blogspot.com/ said...

Pears are one of my favs! Love your blog!

Tangled Noodle said...

This looks fantastic! I made a salad with fresh pears and walnut (for one of our Mindless Eating posts!) but it doesn't come close to this. I've always wanted to poach pears in wine but they always disappear from the fruit bowl before I get around to it (Mr. Noodle is a fruitavore). I'll stash one away so that I can give this a try!

Nurit said...

Hi Joie!
Hmm, can't remember if I ever poached a pear. Maybe long long time ago...
Stopped to say "hi". How have you been?

Veggie Belly said...

I love wine poached pears! but ive never had a poached pear salad, a great idea!

Tina said...

Award winning dish, that's what this is!

I have an award for you over at my blog - swing by and pick it up!

Hornsfan said...

This is beautiful looking - if it tastes as good as it looks it's well worth it!

Reeni said...

I sent you an e-mail! Congrats - you won my giveaway! Please e-mail me your address ASAP!

Erica said...

I love the color in those pears!What a delicious salad!

Jennie said...

This salad looks wonderful! I love poached pears, especially with blue cheese! Delicious!

Free Samples said...

Wow! Looks awesome, great work! I'd eat that in a heartbeat, lol

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