Gorgonzola & Pear Salad with Pistachios and Honey-Ginger Vinegrette

Actually I made up the recipe for this salad when I was grocery shopping few days ago. And I have to modestly admit that it was one of the best salads I have ever had :) I think that my stay in Korea, which was some kind of an "exile" from food indulgence, let me now identify all of my food cravings more clearly and paradoxally had quite an impact on my food imagination. Roaming down the aisles I was just picking up all the ingredients with a friendly attitude to the wedge of gorgonzola that I already got. The guest star of the recipe are for sure the beets. I shredded just a bit of it, mostly for the visual effect. Blue cheese doesn't like sour company so I resorted to adding only a perfectly ripe and sweet pear. I sprinkled it with a bit of cinnamon (tried this combination few weeks ago in Rome - it does make a difference :) and a handful of chopped pistachios which turned out to be much more interesting (and tastier!) than the "walnut classic". However the walnut note can be smuggled into the salad if you replace honey with some good maple syrup. I put a dollop of my favourite buckwheat honey. OK, the truth is the dressing puts the whole thing few levels higher. Ginger - definitely one of my absolutely favourite food items with the most beautiful taste complexity. Seriously, I'd give up cooking if ginger were suddenly swept from the planet. A teaspoon of grated ginger that I added to a classic honey vinegrette made all the magic. I had some doubts when I came up with the idea - both ginger and gorgonzola are  spicy. But I thought "Fuck it, let's try!" and voila! A really beautiful combination where the distinctive 'spicy note' is the cheese, whereas the ginger just provides a nicely warm and smooth background. You're gonna love it! :)

INGREDIENTS    &   METHOD

Serving for one person

Salad's 'body':

• few handfuls of your fave greens - I chose baby spinach, rocket and chicory
• a small handful of shradded raw beets
• 1 ripe pear
• 70g gorgonzola picante
• few pinches of cinnamon
• a handful of pistachios

Honey-ginger Vinegrette (Salad's 'soul' ;)

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp buckwheat honey/maple syrup
• 1 tsp fresh ginger
• 1 pinch of salt