This pear blackberry salad is a perfect summer salad, great for a light dinner or lunch and perfect topped with a homemade lemon vinaigrette!
We are very lucky here in the United States, we can eat fresh fruit pretty much anytime we want. We just go to the grocery store and see a beautifully, well stocked produce section. Often I don’t even think about where did that fruit come from, even if it is not in season here. For instance, right now my fridge has strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and lemons on the shelves and my fruit basket is loaded with bananas, apples, pears, limes, and mangos. Wow, that is a lot of beautiful and delicious fruit.
With the warm summer days, I could live off eating just fruit but I decided to put some of that fruit together in a refreshing summer pear blackberry salad with lemon vinaigrette. The lemon vinaigrette comes together quickly and is so light tasting. It was the perfect accompaniment to the pear blackberry salad.
This pear blackberry salad with lemon vinaigrette is perfect for a light dinner or for a outdoor lunch. It all comes together quite easily, especially if you purchased shaved Parmesan cheese. You can toss it all together in a large salad bowl or do as I did and layer in individual salad bowls for such a pretty look. Either way it is delicious. I tried to make sure each forkful was full of spring mix, red onions, pears, and blackberries.
And the lemon vinaigrette – wow! It was a perfect combo with the pear blackberry salad. Do you take the few moments to make a fresh vinaigrette? I keep forgetting how refreshing and light it is. Don’t let the time hold you back, it really only takes a few minutes, and your senses will be so glad you did.
Pear Blackberry Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
Ingredients
Pear Blackberry Salad
- 4 cups spring mix
- 1 cup baby spinach
- 1/4 red onion (sliced thin and separated rings)
- 1 Barlett pear (cored and sliced thin)
- 1 cup blackberries (rinsed and drained)
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (shaved)
Lemon Vinaigrette
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (fresh squeezed)
- 1 TBS red wine vinegar
- 2 TBS rice wine vinegar
- 2 TBS white sugar
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1/2 cup canola oil
Instructions
Pear Blackberry Salad
- Toss together baby spinach and spring mix
- Slice your red onion and pear very thinly
- Layer your red onion, blackberries, pear, and shaved Parmesan cheese on top of your greens
- Serve with lemon vinaigrette
Lemon vinaigrette
- In a shaker jar, add vinegars, lemon juice, sugar, salt, mustard - whip together with a fork
- Pour in canola oil, add lid to shaker jar, and shake to incorporate with vinegars and juice
- Pour over individual salads, if not used right away, shake to incorporate before serving
- Store any fridge any left over vinaigrette
You can serve this as a first course, main dish, or light lunch. We enjoyed it with crescent rolls for a light lunch. Add grilled chicken or fish for a summery dinner meal.
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