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Served this salad at a luncheon on Thursday. It would make a great Christmas salad and is something to do if you have a glut of Harry and David Pears (which we do). In fact, I've added it to my Christmas menu as well!

The recipe is from Ina Garten and is as follows: I cut it down since I was only serving 4 and used spring mix (arugula is hard to find here) and since I didn't have blue cheese I omitted that (but won't for Christmas) and then showered the finish salad with Feta (which I did have)!

INA GARTEN'S ROASTED PEAR SALAD

3 ripe but firm Anjou pears
Freshly squeezed lemon juice (3 lemons)
3 ounces coarsely crumbled sharp blue cheese such as Stilton
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup walnut halves, toasted and chopped
1/2 cup apple cider
3 tablespoons port
1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/4 cup good olive oil
6 ounces baby arugula
Kosher salt
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Peel the pears and slice them lengthwise into halves. With a small sharp paring knife and a melon baller, remove the core and seeds from each pear, leaving a round well for the filling. Trim a small slice away from the rounded sides of each pear half so that they will sit in the baking dish without wobbling. Toss the pears with some lemon juice to prevent them from turning brown. Arrange them, core side up, in a baking dish large enough to hold the pears snugly.

Gently toss the crumbled blue cheese, dried cranberries, and walnuts together in a small bowl. Divide the mixture among the pears, mounding it on top of the indentation.

In the same small bowl, combine the apple cider, port, and brown sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Pour the mixture over and around the pears. Bake the pears, basting occasionally with the cider mixture, for 30 minutes, or until tender. Set aside until warm or at room temperature.

Just before serving, whisk together the olive oil, 1/4 cup of lemon juice, and 1/4 cup of the basting liquid in a large bowl. Divide the arugula among 6 plates and top each with a pear half. Drizzle each pear with some of the basting liquid, sprinkle with salt, and serve warm.

This sounds and looks delicious, will have to do this for next year and I am NOT going to the grocery store again before Chirstmas.

Wanda

Oh my!
That sounds wonderful.