Roasted Pear Salad with Endive, Hazelnuts, and St. Agur

Name: Roasted Pear Salad with Endive, Hazelnuts, and St. Agur
Ingredients: 3/4 cup blanched hazelnuts; 1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon hazelnut oil; 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil; 5 Comice or Bartlett pears, peeled, cored, and cut into eighths; 4 tablespoons unsalted butter; 2 teaspoons thyme leaves; 1 tablespoon finely diced shallot, plus 2 tablespoons thinly sliced shallot; 2 1/2 tablespoons sherry vinegar; 2 tablespoons rice vinegar; 6 heads Belgian endive, core removed, separated into spears; 1 ounce arugula, cleaned and dried; 1/4 pound St. Agur blue cheese; Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

January 24, 2012

A variety of cheeses work in this salad, but I particularly love St. Agur, a triple-crème French cow’s milk blue cheese. Its pungent and intense blue flavor is balanced by an unusually creamy and sensuous texture. When shaved into long thin ribbons, the cheese is elegant on the plate and delicate on the palate. To make thin ribbons, I use an old-fashioned cheese pull, a wide metal spatula-shaped utensil with a slotted blade in the center. Pears and cheese are always happy companions, so if you can’t find St. Agur choose another blue, or seek out a good sheep’s milk cheese, such as a Roncal, Manchego, or pecorino. We’ve had more than one customer order this salad as dessert, so you decide where it falls in the meal.

Recipe notes

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