Sliced pears, grilled endive, toasted walnuts and taleggio cheese

Great way to sample lots of different flavors and textures, substitute ingredients as desired, apples and almonds fit into this dish just perfectly as well as persimmons and pecans.

Ingredients

• 2 ripe pears ( choose bosc, d’anjou, red)
• 2 heads Belgian endive
• pinch kosher salt
• pinch fresh ground black pepper
• ¼ cup Lodestar California extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup reduce Balsamic vinegar “syrup” (1 cup to start)
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• pinch kosher salt
• pinch fresh ground black pepper
• ¾ cup toasted walnuts
• 8 ounce taleggio cheese

Directions

1. Prep the endive by cutting lengthwise into quarters, dress the endive with olive oil, kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper. Grill over medium flame until caramelized evenly, reserve at room temperature.
2. Reduce the balsamic and sugar over a medium flame from 1 cup down to ¼ cup. Carefully simmer the vinegar until takes on a syrup consistency
3. Toast the walnuts in a 350’f oven until golden in color.
4. Allow the cheese to warm to room temperature.
5. Trim the pear away from the core, cut off into ¼ pieces the slice lengthwise and reserve.
6. For plating divide equal portions of each item among 4 plates, cube the cheese into large bite size pieces.
7. Spoon the reduced balsamic syrup over the top of the sliced pears and then drizzle Lodestar
8. California extra virgin olive oil and enjoy.