Pecan, White Bean, and Pear Salad
with butternut squash soup
Pears, celery, and pecans add crunch to this autumn-inspired kale salad, while white beans add a hearty boost of protein. A cup of creamy pureed butternut squash soup on the side adds warmth to this comforting fall meal.
Smarts: Baby kale is tender enough to be dressed right before serving. If you use regular kale, you can massage the vinaigrette into the kale leaves before you make the soup to break down the tough fibers.
Ingredients
- Mustard, Dijon - 2 tsp
- Maple syrup - 1 tsp
- Lemon juice - 1 Tbsp
- Oil, olive - 3 Tbsp
- Celery - 2 ribs, sliced
- Chives - 1 Tbsp, chopped
- Pears, Asian - 1, julienned
- Beans, cannellini or butter (14 oz / 397 g) - 1 can, drained and rinsed
- Kale, baby - 8 oz
- Pecans - 2 oz
- Onions, medium - 1, chopped
- Butternut squash cubes - 2 lbs
- Apples - 1, peeled and cubed
- Butter - 2 Tbsp
- Brown sugar - 1 tsp
- Cumin - 1/2 tsp
- Nutmeg (opt) - 1/4 tsp
- Stock, any type - 4 cups
- Sour cream - 1/4 cup (sub plain or Greek yogurt)
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Make vinaigrette - Whisk together mustard, maple syrup, and lemon juice. Add olive oil while whisking. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Onions / Squash - Prep as directed. Store separately. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Celery / Chives - Prep as directed. Store separately. (Can be done up to 3 days ahead)
- Pears / Apples - Prep as directed. Store separately.
- Beans - Drain and rinse.
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Make
- Heat a Dutch oven or stock pot with butter over medium heat.
- When butter melts add onions and saute until onions are soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Add brown sugar, cumin, and nutmeg and stir for 1 minute more.
- Stir in squash and apples and saute to coat in spices, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Pour stock over squash and apples and bring to a simmer.
- Cover and simmer soup until squash is tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
- When soup is nearly finished, toss together kale, celery, pears, chives, pecans, and beans.
- When soup is finished transfer to a blender (or use an immersion blender) and blend until smooth. (If soup is too thick, you can add some more stock or some water to thin it.) Taste and season with some salt and pepper.
- Reserve 1 cup / 237 mL of the soup (for 4 servings; adjust if customizing) for Tuesday.
- Add vinaigrette to salad and toss until dressed to your liking.
- Serve salad with soup on the side. Top soup with a spoonful of sour cream. Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
50 reviews
Salad and soup was delicious! We added in some cracked pepper on top of the soup for an extra touch.
0 HelpfulLoved it! Made the pork chops straight from the recipe (tenderized and generously seasoned with salt and pepper), turned out super moist and tasty! As for the soup, I roasted the butternut squash in the oven for 40 minutes at 400'F with butter, sea salt, pepper, and nutmeg (face up for the last 15 minutes), and used that instead of raw cubes. I also used some good quality chicken broth along with everything else the recipes called for, and I didn't even need to add any seasoning at the end, it was perfect! (also, used greek yogurt instead of sour cream, boyfriend liked that much better) Def. 5 stars, and I'm very excited for the mac n cheese tomorrow :-)
0 HelpfulThe slaw is great, the pork chops were great. I added salt and pepper to them. The soup made WAY too much and was a little bland.
0 HelpfulThe pork chops were ok (I over salted mine), but the slaw + pork + soup went together soo well. I ended up making the soup again last night.
0 HelpfulWow, the slaw was awesome, definitely make that again. The soup was ok, not my fav Cooksmarts soup. I made ribs in the slow cooker rather than pork chops because that's what I had on hand.
0 Helpful