Pear, Orange & Roquefort Salad with Sugared Almonds
Lately I've been craving the crisp freshness of a vibrant salad, something that says summer but uses readily available winter produce. This type of salad is wonderful because you can make it as fancy or simple as you want - I only added edamame because I had some on-hand, if don't have it in your freezer, just leave it out! You could use thawed petite peas instead. Play around with what you crave and just swap out ingredients you have on hand. Remember, a recipe for salad is only a guide. You will have success no matter what you put in the bowl.
The quick & easy sugared almonds give just the right amount of sweetness and crunch - the perfect balance to the creamy and powerful flavor of pungent blue cheese. If you have no time to make them, just use some regular toasted almonds and save the recipe for a later date.
I generally prefer to use my Classic Dressing on almost every salad I make, and just change up the toppings. This comes from my Italian background of serving salads plainly dressed. Some people may want to sweeten up their dressings, but I think adding candied nuts and fruit is a much more interesting way to add sweetness. However, if you would like to make your dressing a little bit sweet, add 1 tablespoon honey to the recipe below.
Cook's Notes:
When serving a composed salad, either toss the greens with dressing separately, plate, then add toppings, or plate first, then drizzle dressing over the top of everything. This means that everyone gets equal amounts of toppings - plus, the final presentation is much prettier!
On the subject of dressing - be careful not to over-saturate your salad. Just a light coating will do. The toppings themselves pack a lot of flavor.
You may be looking at the ingredients list and wondering what dill fronds are. The fronds are the feathery parts of dill. You can also use the thinner stems of dill, just give them a good fine chop before adding them to your dressing or soup.
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