So while most Thanksgiving side dishes can be heavy, rich and loaded with butter and cream (which I completely love and respect)… maybe add a salad this year. Maybe add this salad!!

Because it’s bright, fresh and fine!

To cook this Pear and Brie Salad Set out:

for the vinaigrette:

blackberries
white wine vinegar
juice and zest of half an orange
honey
dried thyme
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil

for the salad:

mixed baby salad greens
pear
brie
toasted walnuts
osher salt

I was inspired by a salad my friend ordered at a restaurant, it was a little different, okay a lot different. But it had blackberries and Brie in it! Oh how Worth keeping Brie! So while I was wondering the aisles of my grocery store, I picked up a few of the ingredients, invited my dependable friend over and made us this salad. We both had two helpings… and marveled in the combination of creamy Brie, fresh pear and blackberries.

First, make the vinaigrette. Rinse and pat dry 1 cup blackberries.

Next, throw a carton or a cup of blackberries into a food processor.

And then blitz them until it looks like jelly. Or… never mind.

Next, press them through a mesh strainer to catch those nasty seeds and discard. Now… who sees the heart?

You should be left with a smooth blackberry puree.

Next add in 1/4 cup white wine vinegar, 2 teaspoons honey, pinch of dried thyme, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper and the juice and zest of half an orange zest. Funny thing, when I was zesting the orange and I must have thought it’d be a good idea to rest the orange on my micro-plane and like a sack of bricks it fell into my dressing and sending my micro plane into the air, creating, well something that looks like…

A murder scene. True story.

But I pressed on… and took my anger out on the orange by cutting it in half and squeezing the life out of it. Ahhh… I felt much better.

Whisk all those together.

This is the tough part. My right arm can attest to it… SLOWLY and I mean S-L-O-W-L-Y stream in 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil and whisk the bejesus out of it!!

Next, set the dressing aside and quarter a couple pears. That’s about a quarter of a pair per person, usually.

Then remove the center core.

Then thinly slice.

Brie. A regular here brie. Baked, not baked… I don’t care A regular here it.

Unroll it. Obvi!? Don’t freak about the white edible wax… it’s, ahem… edible.

Them slice into disks. discs? Whichever, you can leave them like this, or break them up and scatter.

I like them whole, but that’s because I have a crazy obsession with brie and the more brie the better!

Next, build your salad by layering, spring lettuce, sliced brie, pears and sprinkle the pears with a little kosher salt. Next, top with toasted walnuts.

…and then finally drizzle with the blackberry dressing. I could seriously drink this stuff.

Enjoy! And if you give this Pear and Brie Salad with Blackberry Vinaigrette recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!