Winter Pear and Whipped Goat Cheese Salad

Winter salads are hard. There aren’t many items in season, and who wants a salad in the winter time? But, a lot of the time when you are making a meal you NEED some kind of green freshness. This is why I came up with this salad. The cooked cinnamon pears give it a little more of a winter vibe (though this salad could TOTALLY be made in any season) and the whipped goat cheese at the bottom gives it the cozy creaminess it needs. When making this salad, smear the whipped goat cheese at the bottom of the plate and then plate the salad on top to prevent the greens from getting bogged down.

Ingredients

Whipped Goat cheese

4oz log of goat cheese

~3oz of cream cheese, best at room temp for whipping (a brick is 8oz, I used a little less than half the brick)

1tsp honey

pinch of salt

1 tbsp olive oil

Salad

Frissee salad leaves, or any other kind of fun colorful artisanal salad leaves (about 1 small container)

1 Barnett pears (or whatever pears they have), thinly sliced 

1/4 cup pecans (if they are raw pecans, make sure to toast them! and not burn them lolol)

1 thinly sliced shallot (to get these thinly sliced, cut shallot lengthwise and turn shallot cut side down to get more balance while cutting)

Salad dressing

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup olive oil

~2 tsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp honey

Salt and pepper

Other additions to salad to maybe add

Dried cranberries

Really crispy bacon bits

Directions

1. Make whipped goat cheese. In a food processor or any kind of blender, add goat cheese, cream cheese, honey, olive oil, and a pinch of salt into the blender. Whip until light and fluffy and completely incorporated. If it keeps getting stuck, I added about 1 tbsp of water to get the ingredients incorporated. You can make this ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator overnight. If you do this, make sure you give a big stir of it before you plate and it’s easier to smear if its room temperature.

2. Make cinnamon pears. In a bowl, combine 1 tbsp on olive oil, 1 tsp of cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Depending on the size of your pears, use more or less cinnamon to your liking. The cinnamon should cover the pears generously. Turn on skillet to medium heat, add a touch of oil and cook the pears till golden brown and pears are cooked through ~10min. Set aside and let cool down.

3. If you are including the bacon bits, cook the bacon in the oven at 400 degrees for about 15-20 min and then roughly chop up.

3. Make white wine vinegar salad dressing. Since the whipped goat cheese also serves as a "dressing" this white wine vinegar dressing should be very lightly dressed on the leaves. Add 1/4 cup of olive oil, 2 tbsps white wine vinegar, a squeeze of honey (probably around 2 tsp), and a pinch of salt and pepper. Whisk together to incorporate and pour little by little over salad leaves till you just coat the leaves lightly. This can also be made ahead of time.

4. On a large plate, smear goat cheese whip underneath, top with leaves all nice and fluffy, add nuts, shallots and optional cranberries and bacon, and top with the pears! Enjoy!