Roasted Pear Salad

By jtoro_318

This Roasted Pear Salad is a great way to start off the perfect meal. Roasted pears sitting in a bed of butter lettuce are filled with toasted pecans, cherries, blue cheese and topped off with a drizzling of lightly sweetened Balsamic Vinaigrette. Yum!

Ingredients

• 1 cup, divided Marzetti® Light Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
• Marzetti® Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing. to taste
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup pecans, chopped
• 4 ounces blue cheese
• 1/4 cup dried cherries
• 3 firm pears
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 8 ounces butter lettuce

Details

Servings 6
Preparation time 15mins
Cooking time 55mins
Adapted from marzetti.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit.

Dressing:

Mix 3/4 cup Marzetti® . Cook over low heat just until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside.

Stuffing:

Place pecans in a skillet, toast over medium heat (watch carefully as they burn easily). Set aside.

Mix cherries with toasted pecans and blue cheese and set aside.

Pears:

Slice pears in half lengthwise, remove cores from pears to create a hole for filling. Trim a slice from bottom of each pear half to allow them to sit upright in the baking dish. Place pears-- hole side up--in a baking dish and sprinkle with lemon juice. Spoon filling into center of pears. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of Marzetti® Light Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing over each pear and pour remaining dressing around pears.

Bake uncovered until tender, (about 30 minutes); basting 3 or 4 times during baking time. To assemble: clean and tear lettuce into bite size pieces and toss with remaining Marzetti® Light Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing. Arrange lettuce on salad plates; place a pear in center of each plate, spoon pan drippings over top of each pear. Drizzle desired amount of Marzetti® Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing over each salad.