Nuts, blue cheese and pear are a classic combination, and really no one needs a recipe for it. This salad started with a particular cheese, however: Erborinato do San Carlo, a creamy blue cheese made from cow’s raw milk in Piedmont, considered a precursor to Gorgonzola and bringing its own almost voluptuous sweetness. Then came a Santa Maria pear from the fruit shop on the corner, and because the rest fell into place so naturally, the salad was ready to go. Chicory and radicchio provide the bitterness, the pear absorbs it, and the piment d’Espelette ensures that things don’t become too sweet. The walnuts come last and add the bite.
Piedmont · Winter starter
Winter salad with pear and Erborinato
Twenty minutes, no pot, no oven. Most of it is cutting, and if you have a vegetable peeler, you’ll be done even faster. As a starter or a light dinner with bread.
Ingredients
For the dressing · for 4 people
For the salad
Preparation
The dressing
1
Whisk together the walnut oil, Orléans vinegar, salt and piment d’Espelette to make a dressing.
The salad
2
Wash the chicory, radicchio and pear, then quarter them lengthwise and cut into long, narrow strips. A vegetable peeler works quickly, but a large, sharp knife is also fine.
3
Arrange everything on a plate or mix in a bowl.
4
Drizzle the dressing over it.
5
Cube the Erborinato or break it into pieces with your fingers and sprinkle it over the salad.
6
Crack the walnuts, break them into large pieces and sprinkle them over the salad.
Tip
Roquefort, Bleu d’Auvergne, Gorgonzola or any other blue cheese (including Cabrales) can be used instead of Erborinato. These cheeses are, however, much saltier and lack the distinctive sweetness that pairs so well with pear. Combine the dressing and salad just before serving, or the chicory will wilt.
The original recipe is by Orathay Souksisavanh and Vania Nikolcic, published in Hädecke Verlag in 2011. We found it on Valentinas Kochbuch.
