A Salad for Fall
As a cook, I’m always a bit torn in the fall. Part of me is drawn toward the heartier dishes I can finally cook low and slow, when hours of stove time are no longer anathema. On the other hand, week by week, the more delicate vegetables are disappearing from the farmer’s market and I start to panic. No more tomatoes! No more berries! 
Reminding myself to breathe, I fashioned this autumnal salad from some vivid green arugula (get it while you can) and a bit of curly endive. And who needs tomatoes when you can have sweet roasted pears!
The pears get a bit melty inside, and caramelized around the edges, with a great concentrated flavor. They’re sweet and rich, even if you don’t toss them with honey or sugar first. (Though feel free to do that, especially if you make a few extra for dessert.) I nabbed a few directly from the pan, but they’d also be awesome with a little dulce de leche ice cream.
The jewel in this salad, though, is a mellow blue cheese I discovered this week from Great Hill Dairy. I’m usually not a huge blue cheese fan, but this non-homogenized blue is smooth and pretty mild, with just a bit of tang.
You could throw in a little bacon (why not) or some toasted walnuts, but I went minimal with a walnut-oil based vinaigrette. We ate this salad alongside a cup of onion soup, but I wouldn’t mind this as a main course, served with a hunk of crusty bread.
