Poached Pear and Roasted Red Beet Salad

From: Rialto Restaurant, Carle Place, NY. Yield: 12 servings.

Poached Pears:
1 cup white wine
½ cup granulated sugar
3 pears, skin-on, halved and cored

Vinaigrette:
1 tsp. shallots, finely minced
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
½ tsp. salt
2 tsp. honey
1 tsp. mustard
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Salad:
2 cups diced pears
1 cup Mandarin orange segments
2 lb. arugula, torn
1 lb. radicchio, shredded
4 roasted beets, sliced ¼” thick
1 cup toasted candied walnuts
1 cup feta cheese

For poached pears: Boil 3 cups water with the wine and sugar until sugar dissolves. Add pears and simmer gently until a thin knife inserted gently meets with little resistance.

For vinaigrette: Add shallots to the vinegar with the salt. Let sit 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and whisk well to combine and emulsify.
For salad: Toss the pears and oranges with half of the vinaigrette. Put the lettuces in a large bowl and toss with the remaining vinaigrette. Cover the bottom of each plate with a few beet slices. Divide the salad between 12 plates and mound on top of the beet slices. Sprinkle the dressed pears and oranges around the base of the lettuces and garnish with feta cheese and walnuts.