Spice Poached Pear Salad

Difficulty:

1/5

Ease of Preparation: Easy

Yield: 4 portions, as a salad

Chef Siobhan Detkavich is cooking for… Pisces! So… what does a Water Sign with a ruling planet of Neptune eat? Pear salad for our pair-of-fish Pisces? It’s more than a cute play on words, when you combine peppery arugula, sweet honey, toasty almonds, salty feta, and glistening, jewel-like wine poached pears!

Ingredients:

Poached Pears:

2 cups (470 ml) water
⅓ cup (80 ml) honey
2 cups (470 ml) dry white wine
6 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
1 cinnamon stick
4 Bartlett pears, peeled, cored with a Parisienne scoop, and quartered

Salad:

3 tablespoons (45 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons (45 ml) lemon juice
1 tablespoon (15 ml) honey
Salt and pepper
4 cups (950 ml) loosely packed arugula
½ cup (120 ml) crumbled feta cheese
½ cup (120 ml) sliced almonds, toasted

Method:

For the Poached Pears:

In medium saucepan over high heat, combine the water, honey, wine, cardamom pods and the cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil and add the pears, making sure they are submerged in the poaching liquid (weight with a plate if needed).

Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer the pears for 15 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and cool completely at room temperature, then cover and refrigerate (leaving the pears in their poaching liquid) for 2 hours or up to overnight.

For the Salad:

In a Mason jar with a lid, combine the olive oil, lemon juice, and honey. Season with salt. Screw the lid on tightly and shake well.

Toss arugula in a salad bowl with some dressing and season with salt.

Divide the arugula leaves between small salad plates.

Place 4 pear quarters on each plate.

Spoon some of the dressing over top.

Finish with the feta cheese and almonds.

Crack black pepper over the salads.

Serve immediately.