Description
This stunning, sophisticated salad is made with red wine poached pears, burrata, prosciutto, arugula, and a syrup made from the red wine poaching liquid! It's a beautiful side dish or appetizer for the holidays, or any fall/winter occasion.
Ingredients
Red Wine Poached Pears:
- 3 pears, halved and seeds & stem removed (bosc or anjou pears are best)
- 2 cups red wine
- Peel from one orange
- Juice from one orange
- 1/2 cup pomegranate juice
- 1/4 cup honey, sugar or pomegranate syrup
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 5 whole cloves
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Salad Assembly:
- 2.5 ounces arugula (half of a standard container)
- 3-4 ounces prosciutto
- 8 ounces burrata cheese
- 1/4 cup pomegranate arils
- 1/4 cup chopped pistachios
- Red wine syrup (reserved from the pears)
- Olive oil
- Flaky salt and black pepper
Instructions
- To a medium-large pot, add wine, orange peel and juice, pomegranate juice, honey, cinnamon, cloves and vanilla extract and bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat.
- While the wine mixture is heating, prep your pears. Peel them, then slice in half lengthwise. Use a spoon or a melon baller to remove the seeds in the center, and remove the stem.
- Add the pear halves to the wine mixture. They should be mostly submerged, but it's okay if the tops stick out of the liquid a bit.
- Keep the heat at a gentle simmer (medium-low) for about 40 minutes, and turn the pears over every 5-10 minutes using tongs to make sure they cook evenly. You don't want the mixture to boil significantly, otherwise the outside of the pear will cook too quickly and they will start to fall apart.
- After 40 minutes, your pears should be bright red. Remove the pears and set aside. Once cool, slice or dice the pears for the salad.
- Strain the red wine mixture through a sieve to remove the solids, then return to the pot. Bring to a boil and boil over medium heat for about 10-12 minutes, until the liquid reduces by more than half and looks syrupy. Let cool to room temperature – it will thicken as it cools. (You can speed this up by filling a medium bowl with ice, then setting a smaller bowl on top and pouring the syrup in the smaller bowl. Stir for a minute or two to release heat and it should be cool within 5 minutes.)
- Assemble the salad with arugula on the bottom, followed by the sliced pears, burrata and prosciutto. Drizzle with olive oil and the red wine syrup (use as much as desired). Top with pomegranate arils, pistachios and finish with flaky salt and pepper.
Notes
You can make the pears and the red wine syrup ahead of time and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. They don't need to be warm for this salad, so it's an easy way to prep ahead of time.
The rest of the salad is best assembled just before serving.
Make it alcohol free: Substitute the red wine with more pomegranate juice.
Don't use Bartlett pears: In our experience, they get too mushy and soft when poaching. It makes it very difficult to slice them for the salad.
Make sure to rotate your pears every 5-10 minutes! This ensures they cook evenly, and makes sure that the color is even on all sides.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cooling time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Salads
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bowl
- Calories: 280
- Sugar: 22.9 g
- Sodium: 464.1 mg
- Fat: 7.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 30.4 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 16.4 g