Autumn Pear Salad

I look forward for perfectly ripe pears every late summer into fall just so I can make this salad!

Ingredients:

Dressing:

5 T olive oil

2 T Balsamic vinegar

1 t honey

1 t Dijon mustard

1 T chopped green onions

salt and freshly ground pepper
  

Salad:

1/2 head green leaf lettuce, washed and torn

1/2 head red leaf lettuce, washed and torn

2 ripe pears, thinly sliced

2 ounces Asiago cheese, shaved with vegetable peeler or grated

1/2 cup unsalted chasews, toasted

Directions:

Mix dressing ingredients in a jar, shake well and refrigerate.

In salad bowl, combine greens and 3/4 of the dressing.  Arrange pears, cheese, and cashews on top and drizzle on the remaining dressing.

Notes:  I have used baby spinach with green leaf lettuce and thought it tasted good too.  Also spring mixes would be okay with this salad.  I would steer away from Romaine lettuce though.  Also I preferred the salad with only about half of the suggested dressing.  I've toasted the cashews usually, but if I don't have time it still tastes good.  Unsalted cashews can also be hard to find (and/or expensive) so I think the lightly salted ones work great.  And if you don't have time to make the dressing, Newman's Own Light Balsamic Vinegarette works well.  I just added chopped green onions to that.