Roast Pear, Walnut, and Cambezola Salad

Tonight we were invited to a dinner party at Ian’s best friend Steve and his wife Gabby's apartment. These two are super great people and so are all of Ian’s friends, so naturally I was excited.

We were told that Gabby was making an extravagant lasagna, and boy oh boy, she did not disappoint. This lasagna was packed with at least a couple of different cheeses, mushrooms, ground beef, and even a nice layer of spinach to round everything out. Thanks guys.

Ian and I wanted to make something nice and simple to bring over, so we brought my favourite salad made of roast pear, walnut and Cambezola. The Cambezola is actually a mix of Camembert and Gorgonzola, which makes it a very mild tasting, smooth and creamy cheese. Pears and walnuts are a natural pair, and the addition of the cheese and walnut oil brings everything together.

You want to know how good this salad is? When I made it for my dad a year ago he asked for seconds! Seconds! Of salad! It’s green, and as we all know he doesn't eat anything green! So give it a try, even the green haters out there will be happy with it.


Roast Pear, Walnut, and Cambezola Salad
Adapted from Licence to Grill, Foodnetwork.ca

3 x pears, cut into eighths, seeds and cores removed
1 cup of walnuts, toasted
3 tbsp of honey
ground pepper
4 cups of Spring Mix Salad
150g of Cambezola Cheese cut into 1/4 inch wedges

Dressing
3 tbsp of walnut oil
6 tbsp of sherry vinegar
2 tbsp of honey
Salt and pepper to taste

Roast Pear, Walnut, and Cambezola Salad
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss pears in honey and pepper mixed with 2 tbsp. water to create syrup. Roast in oven for 20-25 minutes, covered in foil. Place spring salad mix into a bowl and drizzle with the dressing. Toss. Add toasted walnuts, cheese and roasted pears.
Dressing
Combine the dressing ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Baked Pears filled with chocolate, Almonds, and Orange in a Flaky Pastry Shell - Valentine's Day Part 1

So this is Ian's and my Valentine's Day Part 1, and of course why not start off with dessert? Today is also our first year anniversary (yay) and we had this amazing reservation at one of the top restaurants in Montreal that we had to book many weeks in advance. Unfortunately with all that was going on this week we had to cancel and spend the night inside, which was a lot of fun!

If you stick around for the next couple days I will be posting the other delightful aspects of our meal, but today we do dessert. And what a dessert it was. I was just flipping through this Jamie Oliver book called Jamie’s Kitchen that I took from home, and this recipe screamed out from between the pages at me. How could I say no? Chocolate inside a pear wrapped in flaky pastry, come on, there isn’t a person out there strong enough to say no.

Now, I don’t know how to accurately explain how marvellous the taste was, it was just so incredible. These little bundles were all you thought they would be, and more. Each flavour played perfectly with the others and came together to make this "Super Dessert". It’s probably what superman eats every day to keep his energy up. I think the key factor to keep in mind is to use good quality chocolate. In this I used Vhalrona Chocolate, but most quality 70% chocolates will do. To put it over the top I served them straight out of the oven with a huge scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on the side.

Now you might be like me and think that filo pastry is daunting and not worth the work. Let me tell you, it is so simple and easy to work with, just buy a package of frozen sheets and slather each layer in butter. This was actually the first time that I worked with filo and I am now saddened that I waited so long. I will be making many more recipes with these flaky tender sheets. Watch out world, I’m going to cover everything in filo!

So just to rub it in, on a day that is practically dedicated to chocolate, Ian and I ate the ultimate in chocolate desserts.

Baked Pears Filled with Chocolate, Almonds, and Orange wrapped in Flaky Pastry
adapted from Jamie's Kitchen, 2002
4 pears
3 tbsp. blanched almonds
6 tbsp. butter
3 tbsp. sugar
Zest of one orange
2 ½ oz Vhalrona chocolate 70%
16 sheets of filo pastry, defrosted, 8x8 inches

Preheat oven to 350°F. Peel pears and cut core out from the bottom. In a food processor chop almonds, then chocolate. Place in bowl and add sugar, orange zest, and 4 tbsp. of butter. With hands, mix together until uniform. Put ¼ of mixture into bottom of pear, pack extra filling around the base. Repeat for three others. Take one sheet of filo and brush with heated remaining butter, then stack with another filo sheet. Repeat stacking and brushing with butter until there are 4 layers. Wrap pear in filo and twist at the top to keep the package closed. Repeat for other pears. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream.