2013 – Gluten Free Living

Pear Salad with Ginger Vinaigrette is a fabulous gluten free salad is absolutely scrumptious and one of the best salads I’ve eaten lately. It’s filled with beautiful, sweet, red bosc pears, the luscious taste of toasted pecans, the rich flavors of romano cheese, and the sweet and tart taste of dried cranberries topped with a spectacular ginger vinaigrette.

I wanted a salad with a little bite, a little sweetness, and a delicious light dressing that didn’t overpower the salad. Balsamic vinegar tends to be a little on the strong side so I chose to use white wine vinegar instead. After making the dressing I wondered what kind of additional flavorings I could pair it up with to give the pears a nice taste. I decided on ginger.

While I only used a half teaspoonful which gave a wonderful essence to the dressing, a full teaspoon or even more could be added for those of you who want a stronger ginger taste. I loved this dressing and it turned out fantastic. But if you like a lot of dressing on your salad you may want to double the ingredients for this amount of salad.

If you’re weary of the same old, tired salad you always have, consider trying something new like this one. It is SO tasty. It’s spectacular for company, too. You can have this salad and dressing ready to serve in about 20 minutes. We loved this delicious, healthy, low calorie, gluten free salad and believe you will too.

When I initially posted this recipe in January 2013, it was at the very beginning of my experiment with a gluten free diet. I was still using an iPhone for a camera so my pictures were a little grainy and blurry. I’ve been systematically going back and remaking those old recipes trying to update the pictures.

To that end, I recently remade this recipe (May 2015) when we had some friends in our Sunday school class lose a parent unexpectedly. I was planning on dropping off a meal to them, but instead they invited us to share the meal with them so we would have time to talk together. They loved this salad.

Even though Pear Salad with Ginger Vinaigrette makes a lot, all four of us had two servings (along with the massive amount of other foods I brought!), so there weren’t many leftovers. It’s really a great salad. I hope you give it a try.

Pear Salad with Ginger Vinaigrette is a fabulous salad with lots of juicy pears.

The Ginger Vinaigrette was spectacular.

The taste of Romano cheese was amazing. It added so much to the salad. A little extra sprinkle on top added even more deliciousness. The toasted pecans were succulent and tasty. They added such a rich, savory breadth of flavor. You can make sugared pecans if you desire, but I’m trying to stay away from excess sugar. Even still, the roasted pecans tasted amazing.

Here’s what I did.

I used these ingredients for the salad.

Put 3 bags of Romaine or Butter Bliss lettuce in a large salad bowl. Add diced red onion. This gives the salad a nice bite. Add craisins. 

Place whole pecans in a toaster oven or regular oven at 400-450 for about 10 minutes until roasted. Grate romano cheese. Add roasted pecans and cheese.

Soak the pears in some lemon juice to keep them fresh a little longer. Make sure you swish both sides really well. I cored the pears but I didn’t peel them. After soaking the pears in lemon juice pat them dry slightly.

Layer the pears on top of the salad.

I used these ingredients to make the Ginger Vinaigrette.

Place all of the ingredients in a blender and pulse for about 10 seconds. This will make the dressing thicker and it will blend better than if you just whisk it.

Toss salad before serving. The Ginger Vinaigrette was a fabulous dressing. You will love the blend of flavors with the salad ingredients.

We garnished the Pear Salad with Ginger Vinaigrette with extra cheese. Wow, was it so marvelous. The deep flavored cheese, toasted pecans, and red onion balanced the sweetness of the pears and craisins.

The delicate flavors of the Ginger Vinaigrette over this salad are spectacular.

Here’s the recipe.

PEAR SALAD WITH GINGER VINAIGRETTE

(My own concoction)

Print Recipe

Pear Salad with Ginger Vinaigrette Yum

Wonderful salad with pears, toasted pecans, Romano cheese, red onion and craisins. The Ginger Vinaigrette works wonderfully with this amazing salad. Gluten free.

Course

Salads and Salad Dressings

Cuisine

American

Prep Time

30 minutes

Cook Time

0 minutes

Servings

Ingredients

PEAR SALAD:

• 3 bags Butter Bliss lettuce or Romaine lettuce
• 1 cup Romano cheese grated
• 2-3 red pears cored
• 1 cup pecans toasted
• 1/3 cup red onion diced
• 3/4 cup Ocean Spray craisins
• ReaLemon lemon juice as needed
• 1 cup additional romano cheese grated, for garnish

GINGER VINAIGRETTE:

• 1/3 cup canola oil or avocado oil
• 1/3 cup canola or sunflower seed oil or avocado oil; olive oil is too strong for this salad
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 4 tbsp. honey
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. dehydrated minced onion sliced green onions will also work
• 1 tsp. dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp. ginger

Course Salads and Salad Dressings Cuisine American Prep Time 30 minutes Cook Time 0 minutes Servings Ingredients PEAR SALAD: 3 bags Butter Bliss lettuce or Romaine lettuce 1 cup Romano cheese grated 2-3 red pears cored 1 cup pecans toasted 1/3 cup red onion diced 3/4 cup Ocean Spray craisins ReaLemon lemon juice as needed 1 cup additional romano cheese grated, for garnish GINGER VINAIGRETTE: 1/3 cup canola oil or avocado oil 1/3 cup canola or sunflower seed oil or avocado oil; olive oil is too strong for this salad 1/4 cup white wine vinegar 4 tbsp. honey 1 tbsp. lemon juice 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. pepper 1 tsp. dehydrated minced onion sliced green onions will also work 1 tsp. dijon mustard 1/2 tsp. ginger

Instructions

PEAR SALAD:

1. Place lettuce in large salad bowl.
2. Add diced red onion, then layer craisins over top.
3. Sprinkle cheese then toasted nuts.
4. In a small bowl pour out some lemon juice.
5. Slice and core pears.
6. Place slices in lemon juice and swish both sides in lemon juice.
7. Pat dry with towels or paper towels.
8. Layer pear slices over top of salad.
9. Toss ingredients before serving.
10. Place on individual plates.
11. Serve with dressing.

GINGER VINAIGRETTE:

1. Place ingredients in a blender and pulse about 10-15 seconds until ingredients are emulsified.
2. Drizzle over salad.
3. Refrigerate leftovers.

Recipe Notes

NOTE: Even with dipping the pears in lemon juice, this salad will only remain fresh about 4-6 hours before serving. Then the pears were start browning slightly. So it's best to make this salad right before serving.

NOTE: Cut recipe in half if you aren’t serving a crowd! If you like a really sweet dressing, add an additional tablespoon or two of honey.

I thought this Pear Salad with Ginger Vinaigrette was so amazing I ate almost two plates of this for dinner!

Your family will love this yummy Pear Salad with Ginger Vinaigrette. It’s healthy, low calorie, and gluten free too.

You may also enjoy these delicious recipes!

Pear Salad with Glazed Walnuts

Winter Fruit Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

Harvest Turkey Salad with Cherry Vinaigrette  

You may find these items helpful for making this recipe.

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