Pear Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese, Pecans, and Honey-Lemon Dressing is a simple and healthy salad that will pair with any dinner. Easy enough to make on weekdays - presentable enough to serve for a special occasion! Serve it as a side, or add protein to make it a complete meal.
Core the pears and slice each one length-wise. You don't need to peel them.
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat.
Add sliced pears and cook them for about 3 minutes per side or until soft and pliable. Remove from heat.
Add honey, lemon juice, and another tablespoon of olive oil and stir everything together.
Assembly
I prefer to arrange the salad in individual bowls for presentation purposes.
Add baby spinach to each salad bowl.
Add sliced Humboldt Fog goat cheese on top. If using regular goat cheese, crumble it first, then add it to the salad.
Top with cooked pears.
Top with chopped toasted pecans.
Drizzle the honey-lemon juices from the skillet over the salad.
Alternatively, you can combine all the salad ingredients (except pecans) in a large serving bowl, including cooked pears and all the juices from the skillet, and toss to combine. Then, top the salad with chopped toasted pecan halves.
Notes
Toast pecans. If using raw pecans, toast them in the preheated oven at 350 F for about 5 or 10 minutes until slightly darker in color and crunchy. Be careful not to burn the nuts.
You can use roasted, flavored, or candied pecans. In this case, you don't need to toast them.