Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors

Recipes

4 Courses to Love - Arugula with Pears + Prosciutto (course two)

February 6, 2014

This is the 2nd course in a 4 course meal, designed to be a springboard for your special occasion. See the first course here.

4courses-to-love

Arugula and Prosciutto are not new ingredients on this blog. I use them often because they have good flavor, and aren't really that expensive. Sure, if you look at the "per pound" price of prosciutto, it seems ridiculous. But typically each person has one or two thin slices, so you'll only be spending around $2 on something really special (assuming you're cooking for two, like we are in this meal).

Full disclosure time. A lot of things I cook are quite boring. Chicken thighs with curry powder; pork chops with salt and pepper; ground beef with whatever seasonings on top of whatever. That's reality. I cook dinner at our house almost every night, but I only blog 1-2 times a week. That leaves 5-6 meals per week that are completely boring, thrown together in a rush and not even worth talking about. They're meant to fill bellies, nourish bodies, and taste good enough that a 3 year old will eat them. I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about, because that's most likely your reality as well. And because that's your reality, why not make things special when you can? Trust me, you've earned it.

As mentioned in Tuesday's post, this salad was Jules' favorite course in the meal, and it surprised me at how well it all worked. I say it surprised me because I've never made anything like this salad before. I've never really had anything like this salad before. This salad, and the entire 4 course meal, was born from a good two hours spent with my nose in The Flavor Bible, researching, pairing and cross-referencing flavors. Yes, I've eaten each of these ingredients in the past, but it's the combination of flavors that made it new to me. And I hope you enjoy it, as well.

Here's what you need:

• 2 handfuls of fresh arugula
• 4 thin slices of prosciutto
• 1 Bosc pear
• crumbled gorgonzola cheese
• 1 lemon
• 2 tsp fruity extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 pinch of garlic powder
• 1-2 pinches of gray sea salt or kosher salt
• 2 grinds fresh-cracked black pepper

The only cooking you need to do for this salad is the prosciutto. You can eat prosciutto as it is, but with this salad we almost want it to act like bacon, giving the dish a little crunch. But we don't want it looking like a shriveled piece of bacon, so we'll put a little more effort into it. It's the extra effort that makes it special.

Preheat the oven to 375. While the oven is heating, use 2 pieces of prosciutto to almost make a flower shape (2 pieces each flower, 2 flowers total). Do this on a baking sheet, so you can just put it right into the oven. It may take a little coaxing to get the pieces to stand up, but you can do it, I promise. Once you have them standing on their own, carefully slide the pan into the preheated oven and bake for about 10 minutes or until crisp. Here is the look you're going for:

prosciutto-crisp

Once baked, let them cool for a few minutes then carefully scrape them from the baking sheet and set in the center of a plate. That's the "hard" part.

Next, prepare the pear by cutting six 1/8 inch rings out of the thickest part of the pear. You'll have a cool star shape in the middle of your slices, and there will be seeds there. Remove the seeds and discard them. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze some of the juice over the pear slices, making sure they're coated evenly. This not only adds a bright flavor, but also keeps the pear from turning brown before you serve it.

Toss the arugula, olive oil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper together in a bowl. Assemble the salad around the prosciutto crisp and top the arugula with some crumbled gorgonzola, like so:

arugula-salad-with-pear-and-prosciutto

It may seem simple, but the best dishes often are. If you feel like you aren't a gorgonzola fan, I encourage you to try it anyway. It's a very creamy blue cheese, not as harsh as some blues can be, and is divine in tandem with the pear and prosciutto. Like I said, it was my first time tasting this combination, and it's a definite winner.

Best of all, the lightness of this salad leaves plenty of room for our main course and dessert. Both of which I can't wait to share with you next week, as well as a detailed cooking schedule for pulling it all off. Stay tuned, friends, and we'll see ya back here tomorrow for Jules' painting this week. It's my favorite thus far.

Cheers.

4 Courses to Love – Arugula with Pears + Prosciutto (course two)

The beauty of this salad is that it doesn't rely on spices or seasonings. All ingredients are natural pairs with one another, which saves you a lot of work in measuring and calculating, but still makes you look like a rockstar.
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Total Time15 minutes
Servings: 2

Ingredients

  • 2 handfuls of fresh arugula
  • 4 thin slices of prosciutto
  • 1 Bosc pear
  • crumbled gorgonzola cheese
  • 1 lemon
  • 2 tsp fruity extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 pinch of garlic powder
  • 1-2 pinches of gray sea salt or kosher salt
  • 2 grinds fresh-cracked black pepper

Instructions

First, Make the Prosciutto Crisp:

  • Preheat the oven to 375
  • On a baking sheet, arrange two pieces of prosciutto together to form a flowering shape. Do this with the 4 pieces of prosciutto, creating two flowers.
  • Carefully place the baking sheet with the prosciutto on it in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the color begins to darken slightly and the ham becomes crisp.

Prepare the other ingredients:

  • Cut 6, 1/8 inch rings from the center of the pear. Remove and discard any seeds.
  • Cut the lemon in half and squeeze lemon juice over the pear slices so they're completely coated.
  • Toss the arugula, olive oil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper together in a bowl.

To Serve:

  • Place the prosciutto flower in the middle of a plate. Arrange the pear slices overlapping one another on one side of the prosciutto, and add the arugula around the other side. Top the arugula with crumbled gorgonzola cheese.
— Hide Comments
+ ShowComments
What do you think?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. This entire meal sounds delicious, especially the salad course. Would you recommend The Flavor Bible to experienced cooks/chefs only, or is this something that 'regular' people would find useful, too? I'm keenly interested in learning more about favorable flavor combinations so that I can experiment creatively with confidence, but I wasn't sure if this book would be within or far beyond my burgeoning culinary reach. :)

    1. Honestly, I would recommend it to anyone who really loves to cook. For someone who only passively cares about food, it probably wouldn't be of interest. The information in it is extremely easy to follow, and they have a lot of combination suggestions. It's very easy to follow, so doesn't require a lot of experience. If you're really interested in flavor combinations, this is the best book, hands down, I've found for that. I hope this helps!

What We're

Loving

Right Now

What We're

Loving

Right Now

Looking for our favorite things? A place to shop our home room by room, or just catch up on what Julia's wearing / loving right now? Browse the CLJ shop
Shop All

Love Stories

Love Where You Live

In an industry that often feels designed to make you discontent, we want this to be place you come for inspiration, ideas, and encouragement to make the space you're already in feel like home.
Read All Posts
let's break this thing up

BROWSE BY CATEGORY

01

Portfolio

Befores, afters, mood boards, plans, failures, wins. We’ve done a lot of projects, and they’re all here.
read more
02

Projects

We have a long-standing relationship with DIY, and love rolling our sleeves up and making it happen.
read more
03

Design

Even when you don’t want to rip down a wall, you can make that space in your home better. Right now.
read more
hello world!

looking for inspiration?

The Marcum family dressed as characters from the classic edition of Clue: The Game.
Entertaining

Our Halloween Family Costumes 2024: I'll Give You One Clue

It was Professor Plum, with the knife, in the Conservatory. Happy Halloween from Clue characters: 1986 edition! Shop Costume Inspiration Over the years, we've dressed as everything from dolls and monsters to Peter Pan, E.T. characters, and The Wizard of Oz. But in the last several years, one of our kids has usually chosen our costumes. If you look back, you […]
Wayfair Holiday Christmas collage round up
Decor

The Best Holiday Finds at Wayfair

This post is sponsored by Wayfair We bought this gorgeous, extremely realistic tree from Wayfair in 2019. It may be my best Christmas find ever because it has moved across the country with us, and it's the first thing we decorate every year (and that last thing we put away when the season is over). […]
product lines

Meet the New Chris Loves Julia x Loloi Pillows for Fall 2024

With the Chris Loves Julia x Loloi Rugs launch this season, we just had to add some new pillows too! For this collection, like all of our lines, we designed the pillows colorwise and pattern-wise to all work together. But there are some fun surprises too (including new floor pillows and a brand-new ruffle pillow […]
Outdoor dining table scene in front of ivy brick wall with a beautiful beige geometric outdoor rug
product lines

The Chris Loves Julia x Loloi Rugs Fall 2024 Collection

I can't believe this is our fourth year working with Loloi! For this season's rugs, we are bringing in new styles that haven’t been seen before, which is really fun. It's also exciting to be able to expand popular collections like the Jules rug, which offers beautiful vintage-style rug patterns at an affordable price. For […]
Learn With Us
Want to do what we do? Get the tools, mentorship, and training to be a Good Influencer professionally.
Learn More
Looking for Something?

SEARCH THE BLOG

We've been doing this since 2009 and we've posted a whopping 24145+ blog posts and counting. You might need a little help searching, huh?

Can We Send You Our Love Letter?

Another way for us to stay in touch! Joining our weekly newsletter gives you access to exclusive content, never-before-seen photos, your questions answered, and our favorite DIYs. Sign up below!

hello world!
Follow Along on Instagram
Welcome to our online community where we've posted home, DIY, style, renovations, and family since '09. Renovating our #cljmoderncottage in Idaho and headed for new adventures in Raleigh, NC. #cljfam #cljtransformations
© 2024 Chris Loves Julia, LLC
PRIVACY POLICYTERMS & CONDITIONSAFFILIATE DISCLAIMERSITE CREDITCOMMUNITY GUIDELINES