Pear Salad

Ingredients:

2 T. pecans, chopped*

2 T. sugar

3 c. green leaf lettuce

3 pears, cored and chopped**

1/2 avocado, chopped

1/2 c. green onion, thinly sliced

* I really like the pecans, so I double them. Candied pecans...doesn't get much better.

**I definitely don't use 3 pears! Talk about a pear salad with a little bit of lettuce on the side! I usually only use 1-1.5 pears.

Dressing:

3 T. red wine vinegar

1 1/2 t. sugar

1 1/2 t. mustard

1/2 t. salt

1 clove garlic

pinch black pepper

Recipe:

1. Over medium heat, cook pecans with sugar. Stir until sugar melts and caramelizes. Pour pecans onto wax paper to cool and break in small pieces. Set aside. *

2. For the dressing, in a blender, or small bowl and whisk, mix together red wine vinegar, 1 1/2 t. sugar, mustard, 1/2 t. salt, and pinch of pepper. Set aside.

3. Layer the remaining ingredients in a salad bowl. Top with pecans and drizzle dressing on top of salad. (For better leftover results, pour dressing over individual servings of salad.)

* I usually double the caramelized pecans....they're my favorite part!

Rating: 4 of 5

A good batch of this is so addicting!! I love it! This is, what I consider to be (when things aren't in season), an expensive salad, so we don't make it a ton. But, we had it this week! When my mom was here this week, I had her make the dressing and I think she actually put in 3 T. of sugar (not 3 t.) and I think I like the extra sugar version better.

Source: I'm not really sure where this particular recipe comes from, but it's inspired by Emily Jones' delicious pear salad that we had at her place a few years back.