Girls Night In! - Pear Salad

Last night, I hosted a "Girls Only" Night In. We had SO much fun. My living room was packed!!! At first I was bummed about all the last minute cancellations, but then I started getting some last minute RSVPs, so it ended up working out after all. Although all the girls that originally wanted to have this party are the ones that bailed - so I guess we will have to do it again another time!

I made all kinds of food for this party. I went with a semi-Italian theme, so I served lots of wine, and Rossinis - pureed strawberries and champagne. It sounds excellent, but it didn't seem to go over very well. But, oh well. I will stick with my mimosas from now on!

I made three different salads: The first one was the most popular, and I found it on my local news website! It said it "has something for everyone" so I figured I couldn't go wrong. It was delicious!

Fresh Pear Salad

ngredients: (Serves 6 to 8)

Dressing:
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 1/2 teaspoons seedless raspberry preserves
1 tbsp honey
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard or spicy brown mustard
1/3 cup olive oil
Kosher Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Salad:
1 1/2 bags mixed baby greens or spinach
2 medium Bosc pears, cored and thinly sliced lengthwise
1/2 small red onion* thinly sliced
3 ounces gorgonzola or feta cheese, crumbled (I used feta)
1/4 cup roasted walnut halves
1/4 cup dried cranberries or golden raisins (I used golden raisins)

Directions:

Dressing:
In small bowl, whisk together vinegar, raspberry preserves and mustard. Slowly add oil, whisking until thickened. You could also do this with an immersion blender to emulsify quicker. Season with salt and pepper.

Divide greens among 6 to 8 salad plates. Top each with sliced pears, sliced red onion, crumbled cheese, walnuts and cranberries. Drizzle each with dressing or serve with dressing on the side.

Food Tips:

* To take some of the bite out of the red onion, soak the slices in a bowl of salted iced lemon water. Add1 tsp salt and juice from 1/2 of a lemon stir to dissolve salt before adding ice cubes (the ice will keep the onions crisp). Let the onion slices soak for 10 minutes then drain and pat dry before placing on salad.
(I didn't bother with this.)