"It is well to remember that the entire population of the universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." A.Holmes

Friday, November 6, 2009

Sweet Pear & Apple Salad~Jamie Oliver Friday

This is a delicious and EASY salad to make. Perfect for an autumn side dish, or in my case, dinner. This is the time of year to use very available fresh apples and pears, and we have a lot of apples from our orchard and that 1 perfect pear! This is the only pear to stay til fruition on our small espalier pear tree, and it looked perfect. Well, when it finished ripening inside it proved to taste perfect too. I decided to use it in a Jamie Oliver recipe and I am glad I did. So here is the recipe for Sweet Pear & Apple Salad With Bitter Endive & Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing~ whew, a long title. You will need:
  • 4 heads of endive ( a mixture of red and white if possible ) *at $4.99 a pound I decided to choose a different type of endive, a curly leaf endive that was $1.99 per pound, cheaper,more befitting my budget and I mixed it with red lettuce from our garden~k.b.
  • 2 good eating apples ( I have a whole tree full to choose from right outside~ k.b.)
  • 2 pears ( or 1 perfect pear?k.b.)
  • a handful of fresh soft herbs ( chervil, tarragon, parsley-use any one) torn or roughly chopped
  • DRESSING:2 ounces strong blue cheese
  • 1/4 cup creme fraiche ( or sour cream mixed with whole cream k.b.)
  • 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus a little extra for drizzling
  • 4 Tablespoons cider vinegar
  • 6 Tablespoons water
"This is an adaptation of an old-school French endive salad. Belgian endive is quite a bitter leaf, and to contrast the bitterness I've used the sweetness of the fruit, the twang of the vinegar and the creamy silkiness of the cheese. I think it is important to make this with good quality apples and blue cheese." J. Oliver "Separate the leaves from the endive ( *let me say here, if you can get good endive reasonably priced it is so worth it and the curly leafed was not what Jamie used, but it was very , very good) then wash and spin them dry. Core your apples and slice them into matchsticks. Core the pears and slice into eighths and if they're a little under-ripe, grill them in a screaming hot griddle pan until lightly charred. If they're perfectly ripe, just place in a large bowl with the apple and most of the herbs." To make your dressing place all your dressing ingredients in a blender and blend for just 15 seconds until smooth. Taste to make sure you've got a little extra acidity in there to cut through the bitterness of the leaves, and season if necessary. Pour three-quarters of the dressing over the salad and toss-I usually dress the salad lightly using the tips of my fingers. Divide them between 4 plates and finish with a little extra virgin olive oil. Lovely with some walnuts crumbled over." J. Oliver I very much liked this salad, it was easy to make and I was able to use fruit from our orchard. I will make this recipe again, and next time I think I will sprinkle walnuts over it. I did not use all of our precious pear in the recipe, I put slices of the pear on the side because the pear was perfectly ripe and in no need of anything to embellish it, just someone to appreciate how very good a perfect pear can taste!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

We often eat salad or fruit for dinner and this sounds so tasty. I am thinking the addition of walnuts would be very good too. Friday's with you and Jamie are always much anticipated. Hope you have a lovely weekend. I hope your overnight storms did not do damage to your home/property. Glad you had Miss Marple to keep you warm during the power outage. She is just precious.

Susie said...

This salad sounds really good Kathy. Right now at Cracker Barrel they are serving a salad very similar. They make it with glazed pecans and apples and it too is delish!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Connie said...

It's Friday--time to see what's cooking at Kathy's house. :D This sounds really good. I like your idea of adding walnuts too. Have a good weekend, Kathy.

Julie Harward said...

Ohhhh..this sounds so good..I love a good salad that is a bit different! Thabk you dear! Come say hi :D

Mary said...

I saw Jamie in the title and knew it was going to be a treat. Yep, it is. Fruit salad, with those ingredients. including blue cheese, could be a luscious meal ny itself.

Thank you, dear Kathy.

KathyB. said...

Mildred, we weathered the storm and all seems to be well here, just wet!

Susie, glazed pecans sound even better! I will try them next time I make this.

Daisy, thank-you.

Julie, thank-you!

Mary,It was my dinner, and filling all by itself although I think my husband would need a meat dish on the side!

A. Joy said...

Looks like your kind of dinner! And lunch ... and breakfa... uh, brunch. For Tom and Dad it could be a side dish!

KathyB. said...

A.Joy, you know us well!

Southern Comfort said...

This salad does sound delicious and it must be a special treat to be able to pick the fruit from your own orchard. I have lost all but one of my fruit trees from the terrible drought we had but I know when Spring comes, I'll spent lots of money to plant some more. My dream is to have lots of fresh, ripe peaches!

Brenda Kay Ledford said...

Kathy,
This sweet pear and apple salad sounds really delicious. Thanks for sharing the recipe. It's great for fall. We love black walnuts mixed with our fruit salad. Have a wonderful weekend.

Penny said...

Just one word ... Yum!

the voice of melody said...

This looks so good! I really like all the colors and textures. The walnuts would be great too, I often add pecan pieces to my salads for a little crunch. Thanks for sharing, now you've made me hungry for this salad!

KathyB. said...

Southern Comfort,peaches, I love peaches! They don't grow well on this side of the mountains but E. Washington grows and sells a lot of peaches..peach pie is my 2nd favorite pie, after cherry!

Brenda Kay, black walnuts would be very good too, now I am getting hungry all over again.

Penny, yum is the perfect word!

Voice of Melody, you an me both, good thing I bought more pears and have everything else on hand...lunch this afternoon.

noble pig said...

This is beautiful and really, really sounds good. I have always loved pears in salad.

Gail said...

Mildred sent me since we had an abundance of pears this year.

Sounds wonderful, I shall try it.