A veritable explosion of flavors, this refreshing Blackberry Pear and Blue Cheese Salad tastes so good, it might as well be candy! If you are a fan of blue cheese, then you’re in for a serious treat!
I know I’ve been sharing lots of salad recipes lately and I hope you don’t mind… cuz I usually tend to eat lots of salads like that in the summer time. Hopefully, you’re the exact same, so you’ll be able to feed off my inspiration!
This Blackberry Pear and Blue Cheese Salad I’m sharing with you today is so crazy good, I would totally order it at a restaurant, if it were on the menu.
Now, I know this one is not for everyone, firstly because of the presence of [LOTS] of blue cheese, and secondly because not everyone likes the combination of sweet and savory. But if you’re a fan of both, boy are you in for a treat! You’ll find that this salad tastes to good, it might as well be candy!
Since there’s still only one of me to feed in this household, this recipe is for one person… but I’m sure you’ll find that you can very easily adapt it to feed 2, 3, 4, or even more!
Since pears and endives have a tendency to oxidize pretty quickly once exposed to air, I recommend that you start by making the dressing and also deal with them last when prepping your ingredients for the salad
To make the dressing, simply combine all the ingredients in a mini blender or food processor and process until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. You can adjust the thickness by adding a little bit more milk, if necessary.
As you can see in the picture above, I chose to use my trusty little Ninja Express Chop Food Chopper to make my dressing; it did the job to absolute perfection! I totally love this little guy, don’t know what I would do without it.
Once the prep is out of the way, all that’s left to do is assemble the salad.
Grab a nice big shallow bowl or plate and in it, arrange the arugula. Then, top it with the shaved endive, radicchio, diced pear, blackberries, crumbled blue cheese and walnuts.
Pour as much or as little of that crazy creamy blue cheese dressing right over your salad…
Can you get a sense of how thick and rich and creamy that stuff is? Oooooh, it’s the kind of stuff blue cheese lovers’ dreams are made of, I tell you!
Now give your salad a gentle toss and… ENJOY! Oh, and while this salad is crazy good and totally qualifies as a meal on its own, it also goes really good with grilled meat, especially beef or chicken.
Just sayin’…
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Blackberry Pear and Blue Cheese Salad
A veritable explosion of flavors, this refreshing Blackberry Pear and Blue Cheese Salad tastes so good, it might as well be candy! If you are a fan of blue cheese, then you're in for a serious treat!
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 cups arugula or other greens of your choice
- 1 large Belgian endive shaved
- 1 small radicchio shaved
- 1/2 ripe pear diced
- 10-12 blackberries
- 1 oz blue cheese crumbled
- 2 tbsp walnuts chopped
For the creamy blue cheese dressing
- 1 small clove garlic minced
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 oz blue cheese
- 3 tbsp milk of choice
- 1 tbsp sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
- 1/8 tsp ground white pepper
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients for the dressing in a mini blender or food processor and process until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Adjust thickness by adding more milk, if necessary.
- Arrange the arugula at the bottom of a shallow bowl or large plate. Top with shaved endive, radicchio, pear, blackberries, crumbled blue cheese and walnuts.
- Pour as much or a little dressing as you want all over your gorgeous salad, toss and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*Since pears and endives have a tendency to brown pretty quickly once exposed to air, I recommend that you start by making the dressing and also deal with them last when prepping your ingredients for the salad.
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Looks delicious! I’m going to have to try this – but I’ll have to substitute goat cheese or feta cheese for the blue cheese.
Honestly, I think goat cheese would be brilliant. I actually hesitated between the two. I decided to go with blue more because of the colour, to be honest. I thought it would look super nice against the greenish yellow of the pear and the deep purple of the blackberries. But goat would definitely work!
The blackberries would be good in a smoothie too! I made a Bluberry-Pear Smoothie the other day that would have been good with blackberries.
Oh yum! Now I definitely need more blackberries! Thanks for the inspiration, Joann! 🙂
Inviting colorful bites. Yum!
looks delicious! Btw, I nominated you for the Versatile Blogger award. You can see the details at my blog http://www.monicadockery.wordpress.com!:)
Thanks a bunch for the nomination Monica! I’ll definitely check it out! 😀
Oh my god! I just found your blog, so much love to you! I am recovering from an eating disorder and want to gain a better appreciation for food, and your healthy recipes look incredible. Commenting here for one reason: I LOVE BLUE CHEESE.
Wow, thank you so much Courtney, I truly appreciate your kind words! You really rock! (and so does blue cheese, I totally agree!) 😉
I LOVE this combo! I want to turn it into a tart, I think 🙂 I just need some free blackberries. How did you swing that?
Made a slightly modified version of this today for lunch…delicious! Love the dressing. Of course later I got a package from my parents with a jar of the candied pecans that they make – would have gone perfect on this salad!
Glad you liked Joann! I so agree with you, the candied pecans would’ve been delicious! 🙂
Sonia:
I just found you via Leanne.
I too am Canadian. Raised in Ontario, live in New Brunswick.
Your salad sounds so good!
Worth the trip for blackberries.
Congratulations on turning your life around!
Oh! I subscribed to your post.
Charlie
Hey Charlie! So glad you found me via Leanne! Always good to meet fellow Canadians too! 🙂 Hope you find many recipes in here that will inspire you and thanks much for your congrats wishes!
Oh, and thanks a whole bunch for subscribing to my blog. I truly appreciate that! 🙂 You rock!!!
I crave huge gorgeous salads like this all year round! The flavor combo here looks so yummy!
Do you think I could use an immersion blender for the dressing? Looks so good!
I think that it would work brilliantly indeed! 🙂
This looks fabulous but the carb count is a bit high. Would it change if I dropped the pears and put in another berry? I think everything else was fine for no/low carbs. If not, this has to wait another 30 L-B’s. 🙂