Pear, Manchego and Little Gem Salad

An easy to make salad with few ingredients that delivers a crunchy texture with sweet and salty flavors. It goes well with meat, fish, and pasta dishes.

 Increase the salad ingredents for a larger salad with more servings.

Salad Ingredients

2 small heads of Little Gems

1 pear

1/3 C Manchego cheese shaved

Dressing Ingredients

1/2 C olive oil

1/4 C lime juice

4 t maple syrup(real)

1/2 C Vermont Creamery Fromage Blanc or sour cream

1/2 t cumin

1/4 t red pepper flakes

Directions

Wash and dry romaine leaves.  Line salad bowls with romaine leaves.  

Chop remaining lettuce and place in bowl.

Make a light dressing such as a the dressing above or use a vinaigrette.

Toss lettuce with dressing.

Add Manchego and pears. Drizzle light amount of dressing over the top and serve.

Pear, Romain & Manchego Salad

How to Serve

We served this salad as part of an easy-to-fix meal with grilled steak, roasted fingerlings, lemon sorbet and fresh blueberries. Big flavors, little cleanup.

Notes

Use firm pears to add more texture.  The Manchego should be an aged manchego that easily slices.

The dressing was made with Fromage Blanc which is a fresh cheese.  Sour cream may be substituted, but will increase acidity.  Balance acidity with more or less maple syrup.