Mustard Greens Salad with Roasted Pears, Goat Cheese, and Honey-Dijon Vinaigrette
It took me a long time to begin incorporating mustard greens into my salads at home. My only regret here is that I didn’t start using them in my salads earlier. This salad incorporates mixed mustard greens, roasted pears, tangy goat cheese, and toasted walnuts. A vinaigrette made with shallots, honey, and Dijon mustard helps bring all of the salad components together.
Ingredients
For the Vinaigrette:
- ½ shallot (finely minced)
- 3 Tbsp white wine vinegar
- 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 3 Tbsp honey
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- ¼ tsp Kosher salt
For the Remaining Salad Components:
- 4 cups mixed mustard greens of choice (washed and dried)
- 2 ripe pears (cored and cut into wedges)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper (to taste)
- 1 cup crumbled goat cheese
- ½ cup walnuts (lightly toasted and roughly chopped)
Instructions
For the Vinaigrette:
- Allow the minced shallot to sit in a small bowl with the white wine vinegar for roughly 5 minutes.
- Whisk in the Dijon mustard, honey, olive oil, red pepper flakes, and Kosher salt.
- Taste, and add more vinegar or honey or mustard, if desired.
- Allow the vinaigrette to rest at room temperature until ready to serve.
For the Remaining Salad Components:
- Preheat the oven to 425F.
- Wash and dry four cups of mixed mustard greens of choice.
- Coat the slices of fresh pear in olive oil, and season with kosher salt & freshly-ground black pepper.
- Place the slices of pear on a sheet tray on parchment paper.
- Roast the pears in the oven at 425F for roughly 12-15 minutes, or until the pears and lightly golden brown.
- Remove the pears from the oven, and allow them to cool at room temperature.
- When you are ready to assemble the salads, combine the mustard greens with the roasted pears, crumbled goat cheese, and chopped walnuts.
- Lightly season the greens and other ingredients with Kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper.
- Toss the ingredients lightly in the vinaigrette that you made earlier.
- *You do not need to use all of your vinaigrette here.
Notes
- You can prepare the individual salad components in advance of assembly.
- You can chill the pears after roasting them, if you want to make them ahead of time. The pears are also really wondering if you grill them, instead of roasting them. You can also swap out the pears with some sliced apples!
- This vinaigrette works great with a wide variety of salads.
- Wasabino is one mustard green that is worth considering in your mustard green mix. It is incredibly hearty, keeps well in the fridge after being harvested, and tastes like fresh wasabi!