Cold fruit salads like this one are an old-fashioned piece of Americana. You can find recipes for stuffed canned peaches and pears and other so-called salads like this one in historic Southern cookbooks and of course in classics like the Joy of Cooking and The Settlement Cookbook. You don’t see them much around anymore, which is a shame because this salad is cool and refreshing—a great thing to serve for a summer lunch or as a first course for a dinner party. It may seem weird nowadays to serve canned pears with mayo, but would I waste my time with something that wasn’t good as hell? I didn’t think so.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 6
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Place pear halves, cut side up, on a plate. Spoon about 2 teaspoons of the mayonnaise into the cavity of each pear. Sprinkle the cheese over the mayonnaise. Top each one with a cherry. Chill the pears, covered, for at least 3 hours.
Step 2
To serve, arrange 2 to 3 lettuce leaves on a plate and place the pear halves on top of them.
