Roasted Pear Salad with Endive, Hazelnuts, and St. Agur
A variety of cheeses work in this salad, but I particularly love St. Agur, a triple-crème French cow’s milk blue cheese. Its pungent and intense blue flavor is balanced by an unusually creamy and sensuous texture. When shaved into long thin ribbons, the cheese is elegant on the plate and delicate on the palate. To make thin ribbons, I use an old-fashioned cheese pull, a wide metal spatula-shaped utensil with a slotted blade in the center. Pears and cheese are always happy companions, so if you can’t find St. Agur choose another blue, or seek out a good sheep’s milk cheese, such as a Roncal, Manchego, or pecorino. We’ve had more than one customer order this salad as dessert, so you decide where it falls in the meal.
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Step 2
Toast the hazelnuts on a baking sheet 8 to 10 minutes, until they smell nutty and are a light golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and toss with 1 teaspoon hazelnut oil and a healthy pinch of salt. When they have cooled, chop the nuts coarsely.
Step 3
Heat two large sauté pans over high heat for 2 minutes. Swirl 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil into each pan, and then carefully place the pears in the pan, cut side down. Add 2 tablespoons butter to each pan, and season each batch with 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon thyme. Reduce the heat to medium-high, and cook the pears about 6 minutes, until they’re golden brown on the first side. Carefully turn the pears over, and cook another 3 to 4 minutes, until the second side is golden brown and the pears are tender but not mushy.
Step 4
Using a mortar and pestle, or the side of a large chef’s knife, pound or mash six of the pear wedges to a chunky paste. Combine the diced shallot, sherry vinegar, rice vinegar, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl, and let sit for 5 minutes. Whisk in the remaining 1/4 cup hazelnut oil and 1/2 cup grapeseed oil. Stir in the pear purée and taste for balance and seasoning.
Step 5
Place the remaining roasted pear wedges, the endive, and the sliced shallots in a large salad bowl, and toss with about three-quarters of the vinaigrette. Season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and a few grindings of black pepper, and toss gently, being careful not to break up the pears. Toss in the arugula gently, and taste for seasoning, adding more vinaigrette if you like.
Step 6
Arrange half the salad on a large platter. Use a cheese pull to make long ribbons of the blue cheese, and place half of them in and around the greens. Sprinkle half of the nuts on top. Place the remaining salad on top, and finish with shavings of cheese and the rest of the nuts.
Note
Step 7
If you don’t have a cheese pull, you can run your knife under hot water and then cut thin, pristine slices.
