Carmelizing the pears & walnuts is easy...and delicious. Guys & girls love this recipe. I've made it several times already. With shame I admit that I have never made the dressing part...I use (gasp) store bought Vinaigrette! Still wonderful.

This is a good idea for a recipe, I just had a caramelized pear salad at a restaurant and wanted to try it myself. I skipped the Prosciutto because I'm a vegetarian and I cut the recipe in half because there were only 3 of us eating (and I knew I'd have seconds). I was wary of the dressing right after I made it (the orange juice did reduce, it didn't take forever but that may have been because I halved the whole recipe) so I put it on the side. The three of us all enjoyed the dressing quite a bit, despite initial apprehension. Without even reading any of the reviews, I peeked in my fridge and just knew that goat cheese would be great in it. I served the caramelized stuff on the side because my boyfriend doesn't care for pears and our guest doesn't care for nuts! I know that that probably affects the overall distribution but hey, I thought it was pretty good. Maybe next time I'll try it with fake bacon instead of prosciutto? This recipe does take a long time to prepare, the dressing, especially.

This was just ok. The pears were gooey and the dressing tasted unremarkable and took forever to reduce. Plus I only used about 1/3 of the dressing and the salad was still heavy on the dressing. I wanted this salad to seem extra special bu it was not.

I used two Bartlett pears and that was perfect for 2 small bunches of lettuce (I used 1 romaine and 1 green leaf). I used pre-made OJ and cut the amount in half (overpowering flavor). After the dressing was blended I returned it to the stove and added cornstarch (mixed w/ water to get rid of lumps, of course) to thicken the dressing, and after that it was perfect. Oh, and I used honey instead of sugar. To the salad, I added dried cranberries and goat cheese. The flavors were AMAZING. My pears/walnuts didn't have the glaze that you think of when you hear "caramelized," and I almost dumped out all the liquid in the pan. Luckily I didn't because the sweetened pear juice was DELICIOUS. I ended up with about twice as much dressing as I needed for this salad, but we'll use it til it's gone--we loved it! (Thanksgiving Sleeper Hit)

Delish! I used pears that weren't quite ripe (from our backyard), so I had no problems with mushiness. Makes A LOT!!

Salad is good, but make dressing ahead of time so it can cool. Carmel is pretty sticky, but yummy.

Great, delicious salad. The prosciutto with pear make this a recipe for elegant or fancy dinners.

Although i thought this was nice, i dont think its worth all the effort. I probably wont make it again, sorry

I loved this salad. I used apple instead of pear and frozen orange juice concentrate. Also, I added goat cheese like others did and can't imagine the salad without it.

I love to make nice salads for parties and this one is one of my favorites. Everyone went back for more!

I thought this salad was perfect. It is a bit sweet, but with the dressing it works out. I loved the dressing because it wasn't as strong as some of the other ones out there, but still had flavor. I served this salad to about 10 people who don't like to try new things and they all gave it a shot and they all asked for more. I also didn't add all the water to the pears when carmalizing them and they turned out great.

I really love this recipe, however, I change it up a bit when I make it. Last time I made it, I left out the prociutto and added some goat cheese. Instead of the dressing I just used balsalmic vinegar & olive oil. It was really good.

We served this salad for a dinner club we belong to -- we really felt it was VERY so-so...nothing special and certainly no special tastes. Don't like the way the pears disintegrate.

Tasty, but the dressing was way too watery.

Yum! Yum! This is so full of flavor! I served the dressing on the side since it is a bit thin, but there were no complaints at the dinner table!!

This salad is wonderful, the dressing however needs help. When searching for other recipes to compare it to, most said to reduce the orange juice to 1/4 C. I tried that but didn't like the flavor of the dressing, when I blended in the onion, it over powered the flavors. So I used the recipe from Orange Vinaigrette Brown Rice Salad (also on this site) I also used Red Wine vinegar instead of balsamic vinegar, as someone said it turns the dressing a brownish color. I waited until time to serve to add the dressing, and topped it with crumbled goat cheese (a first for me, but very mild flavor and good) Its a very elegant salad and I got many complements.

This salad is WONDERFUL!!! It takes some time to prepare but if your willing to put forth the effort I totally reccommend it. The only change I have made is I do not add the water to the pears when I'm carmelizing them... they just turn to mush.

Skipped the prosciutto, but the salad still tasted great. Simple and yummy.

Delicious recipe though a little time consuming. I had no problems with the dressing. It is going to be a little thin but that shouldn't be a big concern. Next time, I will forgo carmelizing the pears. I think they could be cut up as is and placed in the salad without any real difference in taste. Really liked the proscuitto in this recipe. Plan on making this again for friends. Really liked the combination of sweet and salty.

this salad was delicious! I used apples instead of pears.i also cut the amount of sugar in half, and it was just the right amount of sweetness. topped it with some herbed goat cheese. this is a meal in itself!! enjoy!!