Pear and Walnut Salad with Wheat Beer Vinaigrette

This is a lovely seasonal salad—with or without the blue cheese. Use your favorite microbrewed wheat beer for a low-fat vinaigrette with big flavor.

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This is a lovely seasonal salad—with or without the blue cheese. Use your favorite microbrewed wheat beer for a low-fat vinaigrette with big flavor.

Servings
SERVING

Ingredients

Vinaigrette

  • 3/4 cup wheat beer
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 Tbs. wildflower or amber honey
  • 1 Tbs. Dijon mustard
  • 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1/3 cup vegetable stock
  • 1/3 cup olive oil

Salad

  • 8 cups assorted greens
  • 3 to 4 ripe red-skinned pears, halved, cored and thinly sliced
  • 6 oz. blue cheese or fresh goat cheese, crumbled, optional
  • 1/2 cup toasted walnut halves

Preparation

  1. To make Vinaigrette: Put wheat beer in saucepan, and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook until it has reduced to 1/4 cup, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, and whisk in remaining ingredients. Set aside.
  2. To make Salad: Arrange greens on 8 plates, and arrange pears on greens. Crumble blue cheese on top, if using, scatter with walnuts and drizzle each salad with Vinaigrette.

Nutrition Information

  • Serving Size Serves 8
  • Calories 210
  • Carbohydrate Content 21 g
  • Cholesterol Content 0 mg
  • Fat Content 14 g
  • Fiber Content 4 g
  • Protein Content 3 g
  • Saturated Fat Content 1 g
  • Sodium Content 80 mg
  • Sugar Content 13 g
  • Trans Fat Content 0 g
  • Unsaturated Fat Content 0 g

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