Pear Gorgonzola Salad is an easy to prepare intensely flavoured salad. Using simple ingredients, this salad has minimal prep work but delivers maximum textures. Drizzle with balsamic glaze and save time in preparing a complex salad dressing.
Recipes like my Cherry Tomato Caprese Salad and Caprese Bruschetta give us light and easy meals that can be sides or light mains.
My Pear Gorgonzola Pizza uses similar ingredients for a different type of recipe.
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Recipe Highlights
Everything you will come to know and love about this recipe is summarised in the highlights below:
- Minimal ingredients: we only need 5 readily available ingredients to make the salad.
- Quick prep time: it takes only about 10 mins to bring the salad together. Making it a great go to when you have the ingredients but are short on time to make something that demands a lot of work.
- Serving versatility: This salad pairs well with garlic bread, grilled chicken, or lamb.
- Salad dressing from a bottle: we use a simple balsamic glaze for the dressing so there is no need to get complicated with mustard or olive oil dressings.
- Bold flavours: gorgonzola has a unique taste and the texture is soft. The pears have a sweet flavour and firmer texture that compliments the crumbly nature of the cheese.
Ingredients
The photo below is to show you everything you need to make the recipe. Refer to the printable recipe card for exact measurements.
- Gorgonzola cheese: this is a type of blue cheese. It is rich and creamy and its appearance is pale with blueish grey marks throughout. It is most often sold in a long triangle slice shape and will be with the other cheese in the fridge section.
- Pears: I use Beurre bosc variety as they have a pretty cinnamon skin. You can however, use any pear variety as the flavours are very similar and complimentary to the blue cheese.
- Kalamata olives: these add additional flavour and texture to the recipe. Be sure to get pitted olives, the jar will be labelled to tell you if they are, look closely as it is easy to get the olives with pits accidently.
- Salad leaves: simple, basic, leafy greens comprise the base of the salad. We don't need much flavour from these as they add bulk and play second fiddle to the cheese and pears.
- Balsamic glaze: this is a thick glaze that you will find in a squeezy bottle with the vinegars at the store. It makes a salad dressing on its own accord. We only need a little and it pulls together all of the other ingredients.
Instructions
Here are the step by step instructions to make the recipe. You will need a knife and chopping board to prepare the gorgonzola and pears. Then we simply need to combine the ingredients:
- Combine leafy greens in mixing bowl (Photo 1)
- Add gorgonzola pieces to spinach and rocket leaves (Photo 2)
- Add pear slices to the bowl (Photo 3)
- Sprinkle in kalamata olives (Photo 4)
How to make Pear Gorgonzola Salad
To make the salad, start by preparing the gorgonzola by cutting it into rough chunks and thinly slice the pears.
Next combine the leafy greens, gorgonzola, sliced pears and kalamata olives in a medium sized mixing bowl.
Gently toss the salad to combine.
Transfer to a serving platter, add salad servers and then drizzle balsamic glaze over the salad to tie it together.
If you are not looking to serve the salad straight away, you can hold off on dressing it with the glaze until you are ready to.
This will ensure that the salad won't go soggy in the meantime.
The combination of soft, pungent cheese, juicy pears and balsamic is seriously irresistible and yet effortless in the creation.
Serving Suggestions
There is an unlimited array of ways that you can serve this salad. My favourite is to serve it alongside my Garlic Pizza Bread.
This gives you flavour, texture and a carb pairing which works well with the high protein salad.
How to Guide
How to Store
The salad is best brought together and dressed just before serving.
Prior to that, keep the ingredients prepped but separated in sealed, air tight containers until ready to serve.
Drizzle and serve when ready.
Substitutions and Variations
As always, I like to give you a couple of ideas so that you can make the recipe according to your personal preferences. You might like to try:
- Adding toasted walnuts.
- Use honey instead of balsamic glaze if you wish to dress the salad.
- Add some dried cranberries or goat's cheese.
- Add some toasted chopped peacans.
Top Tips
Here are my top tips and tricks so that you can get the recipe right from the get go:
- Keep the pairs in their unique shape and cut into thin long strips so people don't have to guess that they are eating.
- The gorgonzola will crumble very easily when cutting. So try and reduce the amount of cutting you do and go for rough chunky pieces instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you slice a pear for a salad?
Cut the pears from the top down, initially in halves then quarters. Remove the core and seeds of the pear and trim the top of there is stem.
Keep the slices on the thin size.
What do you do with pears?
Pears are a great versatile ingredient that can be prepared in many ways. Try it on pizza, in a salad, in jelly on a charcuterie board or chopping up in lunch boxes.
Do you eat the skin of a pear?
Yes, you can absolutely eat the skin of pears. Rinse and then prepare the fruit leaving the skin intact. It has a thin texture with that dissolves easily.
What is the best cheese to eat with pears?
There are so many cheese that pair well with pears (no pun intended) that you will be spoilt for choice.
Gorgonzola is an excellent pairing as the flavour is so strong. You can also serve it with brie and firms cheeses such as cheddar or romano.
How many calories are in a Gorgonzola salad?
This really depends on portion size. For this salad to serve 4 people as a side, the per person count is 239kcal. You can reduce this by serving smaller portions or decreasing the amount of cheese used in the salad.
Related Recipes
If you like having lighter meals that work for sides that becomes mains, you might like to explore the following recipes:
- Healthy Panzanella Salad
- Grilled Chicken Bruschetta
- Basil Artichoke Pizza
- Caprese Bruschetta
- Bruschetta with Feta
- Herb Salad
- Sardine Salad
Adrianne xx
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📖 Recipe
Pear Gorgonzola Salad
Equipment
- 1 Serving platter
- 1 Salad servers
Ingredients
- 3 cups mixed salad leaves (spinach and rocket)
- 200 grams gorgonzola cheese roughly chopped
- 2 pears core removed, thickly sliced
- 1 cup Kalamata olives pitted
- 1 tablespoon balsamic glaze Notes 1
Instructions
- Prepare the pears: using a knife and chopping board, slice from the top down of the pair in half, then quarters. Remove the core and seeds (discard). Trim the top if the stem is still attached.
- Prepare the gorgonzola: use a knife and chopping board to roughly chop the gorgonzola into chunky pieces.
- Combine: add spinach and rocket leaves to a medium sized mixing bowl. Sprinkle in gorgonzola pieces, followed by pair slices. Then add Kalamata olives. Using salad servers to gently toss the salad.
- To serve: transfer the salad to a large platter and provide servers. Drizzle the balsamic glaze over the salad moments before serving.
Notes
- Note 1 - Balsamic Glaze: This will be in the same section of the supermarket as the vinegars. It is sold in a small squeezy bottle. The texture is thick, more like honey consistency. It is perfect as a salad dressing as it holds its shape and texture as you drizzle it. A little goes a long way as the flavour is quite strong.Â
Belinda says
This salad looks amazing love the ingredients and cannot wait to try.