Solo Salads: Pear Extraordinaire

After going to Vancouver's Little Italy to stock up on Long Macaroni
(I could hardly wait to re-visit that lovely baked dish I came up with last month!),
I also went to the most wonderful little deli, where I obtained the ingredients
to make this delicious salad.

Pear Extraordinaire Pita Bowl Salad:

1 cup torn Escarole, Endive or Romaine lettuce
1/3 Twentieth-Century Pear, sliced into crescents then halved
Approximately 1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp of either Shropshire Blue Cheese,
Stilton or Danish Blue Cheese, divided
(I don't pack the cheese into a tablespoon or measuring cup but simply
"eyeball" the amount so as not  to crush the cheese)
5-8 red or green grapes, halved
2 tbsp toasted pecans or walnuts (&/or 2 strips of crispy bacon, crumbled)

Method:

Prepare the Baked Pita Bowl (June 5, 2011 posting).

Toast the pecans or walnuts: cook on baking sheet in 375 F oven
for about 5-8 minutes, checking carefully (they toast quickly!).
Remove from oven, and toss with a pinch of salt or cajun spice.
Let cool for 15 minutes.

Prepare the bacon, if using - cook on medium till crispy, then
remove with slotted spatula and blot on paper towel or a clean
tea-towel. Crumble into small pieces.

In the Pita Bowl, first add the greens, then the pear, next the grapes,
and finally scatter 1/4 cup of blue cheese on top.

Garnish the salad with the toasted nuts &/or bacon,
and drizzle with the Blue Cheese Dressing (recipe below).

Blue Cheese Dressing:

2 tbsp yogurt
2 tbsp lite sour cream
1 tbsp lite mayonnaise
1 tbsp Shropshire Blue, Stilton or Danish Blue cheese, crumbled
juice of 1 small lemon wedge (approx. 1 tsp)
a pinch of salt & pepper

Combine all ingredients in small bowl, mashing the cheese in
with a small fork (leave some lumps!)

Refrigerate the dressing, covered, for at least 1/2 hour for the flavours to develop.