Spiced Pear and Ricotta Salad

My favorite season for eating might be now. You can still find my summer favorite watermelons and tomatoes but the fall produce is beginning to come in strong and that welcomes a whole new seasoning palette that is too warm for summer cooking.

This salad has it all – the sweetness of fried pears are balanced by bitter and spicy greens and mellowed by creamy ricotta. The deep flavors are brightened by a fall spiced vinaigrette, and wrapped up in the crunch of roasted sunflower seeds. It’s the perfect bridge of welcoming fall flavors while keeping things light and fresh while the sun still warms the earth.

Fall Spice Vinaigrette Ingredients

1 tsp minced garlic
1 Tbl white wine vinegar
1 Tbl orange juice
2 Tbl lemon juice
¾ c grapeseed oil
1 Tbl mayonnaise
½ tsp salt
⅛ tsp cloves
¼ tsp all spice
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cardamom
¼ tsp nutmeg
⅛ tsp red pepper (cayenne)
2 tsp orange blossom water

Fall Spice Vinaigrette Directions

Add 1 tsp minced garlic and 1 Tbl white wine vinegar to a jar with a tight fitting lid. Allow it to sit 5 for minutes.

Add 1 Tbl white wine vinegar, 1 Tbl orange juice, 2 Tbl lemon juice, ¾ c grapeseed oil, 1 Tbl mayonnaise, ½ tsp salt, ⅛ tsp cloves, ¼ tsp all spice, ½ tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp cardamom, ¼ tsp nutmeg, ⅛ tsp red pepper, and 2 tsp orange blossom water to the jar. Close the lid and shake until well combined. Taste. Add salt if needed. If you want it to be more acidic add lemon juice or vinegar. If it’s too tart, you can add more oil. Do not add a sweetener.

Notes
Use any neutral flavor oil that you like.

If you don’t have white wine vinegar, no problem. Apple cider vinegar would be really good or just about any other vinegar you have. You can even use regular ole white vinegar.

If you don’t have orange blossom water, skip it. It’s not a big deal, but it does add an additional flavor note. You can always use a splash of almond extract if you want to bring another flavor to the dressing.

You might be tempted to add sweetener to this dressing, but please refrain. The salad has pears cooked with sugar so a sweet dressing would be too sugary.

If you don’t have all the spices, you can add extra amounts of the spices you do have or even add your own spin on it. Ginger would also be a good addition. Just make sure you balance the amounts. No spice should be dominant. 

Spiced Pear and Ricotta Salad Ingredients
4 large servings or 6 side servings

2 Tbl sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
4 pears
1 Tbl butter (might need more)
12 oz of bitter or spicy greens (arugula, chicory, young kale, radicchio, etc)
¾ c Fall Spiced Vinaigrette
½ c ricotta cheese (recipe)
½ c sunflower seeds

Spiced Pear and Ricotta Salad
In a small saucer, mix together 2 Tbl sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, and ½ tsp nutmeg.

Remove the peel off of the four pears. I slice off the bottom and top of the pear and stand it upright. Slide a knife downward between the flesh and the skin.

Cut the pair in half vertically and remove the core. Lay the pear down with the flat side on the bottom. Make 2 cuts longways to get 3 wedges.

Add 1 Tbl butter to a pan and heat it to medium. When the butter starts to foam. Dip the two flat sides of the pear wedges into the sugar mixture and put them in the pan. When the pear softens and the bottom begins to brown, flip it. If the pan starts to dry out, add more butter. Remove it from heat when the second side begins to brown. Be careful not to burn the butter. It’s better for the pear to get soft and not brown then to burn the butter. If the pear begins to get too soft before it browns, remove it.

Allow the pears to cool to room temperature. 

Put 12 oz of greens in a large bowl and gently toss it with ¾ c of vinaigrette. When it’s well coated, taste. Add more dressing if needed. Divide the greens onto 4 plates. 

Layer each plate with 6 wedges of pears, 2 Tbl of ricotta cheese, and 2 Tbl sunflower seeds.

Notes
You want the bitter or spicy greens to balance out the sweet pears. But there’s no need to stress about the greens. You can even use spinach or a spring mix if that’s all that you have. The flavor profile will be a little different but the salad will be tasty.

If you want to really go wild, you can brown your butter before cooking the pears.

Make sure you don’t peel the pears in advance because they will turn brown.

If you don’t have good ricotta or don’t want to make it, blue cheese would be a marvelous substitution.