Arugula Pear Salad With Blue Cheese

I would describe this fall salad as a real explosion of flavors: crispy pears and crunchy walnuts are paired with fresh arugula, which has its specific, slightly peppery taste. Don’t leave out the blue cheese because it gives this salad true character! Pomegranate seeds provide color and acidity, and the mustard honey dressing rounds everything off beautifully.

This is a salad for people who like to experiment with new flavors and are not afraid to try something new.

Also, this arugula pear salad can be easily packed in a food container and taken with you to work – prepare the dressing and bring it separately, preferably in a small glass jar that can be hermetically sealed. When it’s time to eat, simply pour the dressing over all the ingredients, mix everything well, and enjoy!

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Arugula (Rocket) – it has a slightly spicy and peppery taste and pairs well with walnuts, pear, honey, and mustard dressing. Instead of arugula, you can use watercress or baby spinach.
• Pears – for this salad, use the type of pear you like the best. It shouldn’t be too soft so you can cut it nicely. It needs to have some crunch when you eat it. Later in the post, I’ve explained my favorite 3 types of pears for this salad.
• Blue cheese – Gorgonzola or Roquefort are my favorite blue cheese varieties for this salad. Some people like to use Blue Stilton in their salads, but unfortunately, I find this cheese too smelly for my taste buds.
• Pomegranate – one of my favorite autumn fruits that I often eat in salads like this. It gives a nice color and contrast, and its taste is either sweet or sour, depending on the variety you come across. It is full of vitamin C and antioxidants.
• Walnuts – like most other nuts, I like to toast them briefly in a dry pan before using them in any recipe because that way their flavor comes out even more. Instead of walnuts, you can use almonds or pecans.
• Hemp seeds – since they contain a lot of protein, I like to sprinkle them over salads. Instead of them, you can use pumpkin, flax sunflower seeds, or a mixture of all of them.
• Honey – choose real organic honey.
• Lemon juice – I use it in this dressing instead of vinegar because it is in season during late fall and winter and gives great flavor to most of the salads. You can replace it with apple cider vinegar.
• Unrefined sunflower oil – I recently discovered a very good unrefined sunflower oil that has a lovely deep yellow color and a sunflower seed flavor. It works great in this dressing. Instead, you can use extra virgin olive oil.
• Mustard – although there are many types of mustard, for this dressing I used Dijon mustard which is great in vinegarette.

Best Blue Cheese For This Salad

When it comes to blue cheese, the best options for salads are those that offer a good balance of creaminess and crumbliness. Here are my top 3 choices for this arugula pear salad:

• Gorgonzola – an Italian blue cheese that comes in two main types: Piccante and Dolce. Honestly, I like using both types of gorgonzola in salads, but Dolce (sweeter and creamier) are more common ingredient in salads.
• Roquefort – this French blue cheese is known for its tangy flavor and creamy texture. It’s excellent in salads, especially with figs, pears and walnuts.
• Danish Blu – a semi-soft type of cheese that has a milder flavor than Stilton or Roquefort. It crumbles easily so it’s great in salads.

Best Pears For Salads

When choosing pears for a salad, look for those that are ripe but firm to the touch. You want them to hold their shape nicely when sliced! Here are a few varieties that are particularly great in salads:

• Comice pears: juicy and sweet, so they will be great in this arugula pear salad!
• Anjou pears: with their firm texture and subtly sweet flavor they will add a nice contrast to greens like arugula or other greens.
• Carmen pear: with a hint of tartness, they also hold their shape really well when sliced, so they will add great texture to fall and winter salads.

Other Salad Recipes You’ll Love

• HERBED POTATO SALAD WITH CAPERS
• EASY RHUBARB, AND STRAWBERRY SALAD
• TURKISH SALAD WITH BEETROOT, RADISH, AND FETA CHEESE