Baked Pear Spinach Salad With Mascarpone, Cashews, And Champagne Vinegar Dressing

Here it is Tuesday, October 22nd already.  How did this happen?  Where is it going?  Why am I not ready for cold weather or the fact that I had to put on closed shoes on Sunday because it suddenly got cool?  Bye bye sandals until next spring.  Sigh.  It makes me so very sad when sandals have to go.  My feet are not very happy.  I'll be waiting until the first warm day to drag them back out.  Believe me.

One of the really nice things about fall though is the abundance of tree fruit like apples and pears.  YUM!  I like apples, but I LOVE pears.  Dan is not a fan.  He doesn't like the texture which to me is unfortunate, but to each his own.

My daughter and I were talking about pears last week and she mentioned she had baked some.  Baked pears?  Why had I never thought of that.  When I got home, I headed straight to the world wide web and researched some baked pear recipes.  This is one I created by combining several things together for this fabulously delicious salad for dinner.  (The dressing recipe is my own.)  Are they good?  Let me count the ways.  My, oh my.  Here is what you will need:

Pears - as many as you want to bake (I used Bartlett)

1/2 to 1 stick butter

1 container Mascarpone cheese

Cashews, rough chopped (I used about a cup)

Home made Champagne Vinegar Dressing - recipe below

To check if pears are ripe, push around the stem to see if it's soft.  If so, they are good to go.  You want ripe pears for baking.

First, if you have never baked pears, this is how I did mine.  I used Bartlett pears and cut the pears in half, scooping out the core in each half.  I used a teaspoon to core the pears.  You can bake 2 halves, or as many as you want.  I did 3 pears the first time which was 6 halves.  Sunday, I did 5 pears for 10 halves.  I melted a half stick of butter in a baking dish for the 6 halves and a whole stick for the 10 halves.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Put the butter in an appropriate sized baking dish and melt the butter in the oven.  As soon as the butter is melted, remove the baking pan from the oven and coat the pears in the melted butter.  I rolled them on the skin side, then placed them cut side down in the butter.  Bake for about 45 minutes until they are fork tender.  Sunday, I baked these and this is how they look when they come out of the oven.  Heavenly.

Now, turn the pears over to expose the cut and cored side.  Place large dollops of mascarpone cheese in each pear half and stick them back in the oven for about a minute or two until the cheese melts.  Don't let it all run out of the pears.  It's the really good part.

If you are not familiar with Mascarpone cheese, it is an Italian cheese that sort of has the consistency of cream cheese but tastes like whipped cream.  Double yum.

I decided I wanted salty and sweet to go with the fresh spinach, and I had a can of cashew halves on hand.  I rough chopped them and sprinkled them over the melted mascarpone cheese.  I put several hands full of fresh baby spinach on salad plates and put a pear in the middle of the spinach.  I sprinkled more chopped cashews on the spinach.  Now to make the dressing.  I don't always measure when making dressing, but this is pretty close and you may want to adjust it to fit your taste.  It is sooooooo good, especially the tanginess with the sweet and salty.  Yummo.

Champagne Vinegar Dressing

Finely mince about 1/4 of a small shallot, super fine.

Using a large clove of garlic, make a paste out of it by putting about 1 to 2 teaspoons of salt on a cutting board and mashing the garlic with the flat side of the knife.  Work the knife back and forth, pressing and mashing until you have a paste made from the garlic clove.

In a bowl, pour about 1/2 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil in and add the shallot and garlic paste.  Add about a tablespoon of Dijon mustard. (two big squeezes) Add the juice of one lemon and two big splashes of champagne vinegar (probably about 2 TBSP).  Add one small pinch of salt if needed and fresh cracked black pepper.  Whisk until combined and drizzle over the spinach and the pear.  Serve.  Consume.  Just try to savor each bite.  Delicious.  (The dressing is so good I could probably drink it with a straw.)

This is such a pretty salad to present with whatever entree you are serving.  Perhaps you will just want to eat the salad with some good crusty bread.  Or, maybe you would prefer the baked pear without the spinach and dressing and consider it dessert.  It all works and it is wonderful any way to choose to eat it.  Truly.  They also keep nicely in the refrigerator (covered) and can be eaten the next day.  I ate mine cold and it was delish!

Sometimes things just come together in an oh so right way.  If you like pears, this is a great way to enjoy them.  Yes indeedy.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Pears have been cultivated and enjoyed for thousands of years.  Homer referred to them as a "gift from the gods" in the Odyssey.  healthdiaries.com

  

Ode To Potato Salad And My Favorite Recipe

Who loves potato salad?  I love potato salad.  Almost every kind I've ever had, but I like to make it this way.  With just a little mustard for some zip.  I like shallot (or onion) and celery in it for crunch.  I like it made with mayonnaise with olive oil for the binder (such delicious flavor) and I like white potatoes.  They are my favorite.  You can use red potatoes if you want, but I like white potatoes.

Do you love potato salad?   Ooh doggies, I love potato salad - especially with a good baked ham.  Yum.  Yum.  Yum.  This bowl was made for a recent Sunday family dinner when I had baked a ham and what goes with it?  Why, potato salad of course.

Potato salad is relatively easy to make, and I have always made it by the big bowl full because I want left overs to enjoy.  You know how the flavors all meld together and it tastes better the second day?  Yes, that is why I want to make sure there are some left overs.

On labor day, we made a very festive holiday picnic type lunch for all of our clients at the East Nashville CoOp Ministry to enjoy.  Let me tell you, I was a bit intimidated by the thought of cooking 20 pounds - yes your read that right - 20 pounds of potatoes and turning it into potato salad.  I just did the same thing I always do in much larger quantities and it turned out fabulously.  So fabulously, that there was not one eensy bitsy tiny bit left.  Not one sliver of onion, or celery or anything.  Guess that means they liked it.

Here is how I make my potato salad.  Wash however many potatoes you want to use.  I used 12 for this bowl full.  Put in a large pan and cover with water.  Boil until potatoes are soft.  I like to cover the pan with a lid so the steam is trapped and they cook faster.  When the potatoes are fork tender, remove the pot from the stove, drain the hot water and cover the potatoes with cold water.

As soon as you can handle them, remove the skins by simply peeling them off with your hands.  No knife needed.  Place potatoes on a cutting board, halve and then quarter each potato.  Cut into bite sized pieces, about 1 to 1.5 inches in size.

Clean 3 ribs of celery.  Cut each rib down the center and then dice in small pieces.  I used on large shallot and diced in small pieces.  Shallot are a bit milder than onions, but if you don't have a shallot on hand a medium onion works fine.

If you like bell pepper, dice 1/2 of a red or green one and toss it in.  Peppers don't agree with Dan, so I leave them out.

Place all the potatoes in the bowl and add salt.  I can't tell you how much salt, because it will depend on your taste buds.  I start with some and then add if it needs more.  You can always add, you cannot remove, so use salt sparingly.  Add fresh cracked black pepper.

Next, add about 1/2 cup mayonnaise (I like mayo with olive oil).  Squirt about a tablespoon of yellow mustard or dijon mustard on the top of the mayo.  Now, mix, mix, mix, mix, until everything is combined and coated with the mayo and mustard.  Taste and see if more salt is needed.  Add the salt and a little more fresh cracked black pepper, mix, mix, mix some more and ta da!  You are done and ready to dive in.

Just make sure and save a little for later, or the next day.  Potato salad is one of those things that gets better and better as it sits.  It is such a guilty pleasure, I just can't explain it.  Just be sure and refrigerate it overnight.

We are enjoying some of the last late days of summer and maybe this weekend would be a perfect time for a cookout and a nice big bowl of fabulous potato salad.  You know how to make it, now go!

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

“I think someone should have had the decency to tell me the luncheon was free. To make someone run out with potato salad in his hand, pretending he's throwing up, is not what I call hospitality.”

Jack Handy quotes

(Sorry, this quote cracked me up and I just had to use it!)

Jicama Lime Tuna Salad - A New Twist On Tuna Salad

Friday was May Faire at our grandsons' school and parents, siblings and grandparents were invited to join in the festivities which included a picnic on the grounds, but you had to bring your own picnic.  Our second daughter and her sons were going to join in the fun also.  Since both daughter's have their hands full with small children, I told them I would make the picnic lunch to relieve them of the additional stress of preparing food.  Because, you know, I have lots of time now and I have been where they are.   Nothing like getting kids ready for school, getting there early, little ones to deal with AND having to prepare a picnic lunch.  That can put a stressful start on your day and Grandma likes to help them avoid that whenever possible.  It just makes life easier and the day more enjoyable for everyone.

The two older boys can be picky eaters and I knew I would have to prepare sandwiches for them that they would eat.  But, what about the adults?  I wanted something really good for us to eat.  There is a deli in our neighborhood that makes fantastic sandwiches and they are consistently voted best deli in Nashville.  One of the sandwiches they make is a jicama lime tuna salad and it is ever so good.  We all like that sandwich and I thought that I could replicate it.  

Do you like tuna salad?  I LOVE it and always have.  One of my fondest childhood memories is of riding the bus downtown with my mom and getting to eat at the Kresge's lunch counter.  It was really long and had stools that swiveled (awesome).  They were shiny chrome and had fancy decorative backs and red seats.  Everyone stood waiting for seats to open up and the lunch counter happened to be right next to the jewelry counter.  Now, if you don't know me well, you may not realize my great love and admiration for sparkly things - like cheap birthstone rings in all colors like they had at the Kresge's 5 and 10 jewelry counter.  We are not talking precious gems here, but costume jewelry that started at the cost of one thin dime back in the early to mid fifties.  There was nothing better than getting to peruse all the fabulous jewelry while you waited for a seat at the lunch counter.  I loved pressing my nose up against the glass, walking up and down taking in all the wonderful colors of the "glass" gems in that counter.  They could have been the crown jewels for all I knew.  Talk about a treat for a little girl with glitter in her veins, that was a great one!  Then, when seats opened up for all of us, we would get to sit at the counter and swivel back and forth while we waited for our toasted tuna fish salad sandwich - at least that is what I always ordered.  I can still see and taste it.

The sandwich came on square white sandwich bread (which we never had at home) and was toasted a lovely golden color and was sliced on the diagonal.   It was filled with wonderful tuna salad with a nice piece of leaf lettuce on it.  Don't ask me why tuna salad sandwiches at home were never quite as good as Kresge lunch counter tuna salad sandwiches, but I think it had something to do with the swivel seat and all that wonderful jewelry behind me.  Makes my heart swell just to think about it.

 I don't think kids today could ever understand the wonder of it all.  A trip downtown was so special, it was not like going to the mall.   We only went a few times a year, not every week.  We hardly ever ate out, so the Kresge's lunch counter was a really special treat and looking in all the windows of the stores downtown was unforgettable.   Riding the bus was the best ride ever, especially if I got to drop the money in.   How many of you have memories like that?  They are some of the best.

Anyway, I have always loved tuna salad and my goal was to replicate the jicama lime tuna salad they serve at Mitchell's.  It is not the tuna salad we grew up on, but it is so good with so many textures and flavors that are especially great for warm weather and a nice change from the "same old same old."

If you don't know what jicama is, it is a tuber that comes from Mexico and the taste and texture reminds me of a sweet water chestnut.  It has that awesome crunch that is a great alternative to celery.  You can find it in the produce section of your grocery store and it looks like a big brown turnip with white flesh inside.  I got one that was about the size of a big orange.  They can be quite big, just make sure they have a dry root and no soft spots.  You peel the jicama (pronounce the J like an H and the i like a short e - hecama), cut it into matchsticks and then dice so you have pieces of similar size.  I kept eating little pieces as I diced because it is so good.  Yum.

Here is what you need for this salad.  I  used 4 cans of albacore tuna because we had so many eating,  but you can reduce the amount to make less, just adjust the amounts of the other ingredients.

4 cans albacore tuna
1 medium/large jicama, peeled and diced
1 lime
chili powder
1 large shallot
cumin
mayonnaise  (I used mayonnaise with olive oil)
salt to taste

Dice the jicama and place in a bowl.  Squeeze the juice of one lime over the jicama.  It keeps it from turning brown and gives you some of the flavor for the tuna salad.  Sprinkle with chili powder and toss, making sure all the jicama pieces are coated with chili powder and lime.  Set aside.

Open and drain the cans of tuna.  Place in a bowl.  Dice the shallot in small pieces and add to the tuna.  Add the jicama.  Add 1/2 to 1 tsp of cumin.  I used about 3 heaping TBSPs of mayonnaise, use more if you want.  Mix all together.  Taste to see if you want to add more of any seasoning or salt.

I used whole grain pita pockets for our sandwiches because I have a thing about soggy bread - not a fan.  I put a couple of pieces of leaf lettuce in the pita pocket, filled it with tuna salad and added some chopped tomatoes and thinly sliced radishes to the top.  Just let me say, this is one fabulous sandwich!  What an awesome alternative to the tuna salad we grew up on.  There is a delicious depth of flavors that have a southwestern twist to them - chili powder, cumin, a hint of lime and crunchy, sweet jicama.  YUMMM!  Everyone agreed this salad was as good as Mitchell's!  Hooray!

Try this fabulous twist on a golden oldie, I think you will really like it.  I know we are going to eat a lot of it this summer.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

A trip to nostalgia now and then is good for the spirit.  Unknown