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Pear Salad No. 2
1 package cream cheese 2 teaspoons cream 2 tablespoons chopped nuts 6 whole canned pears Mix cream with cheese and nuts. Run an apple corer or sharp knife through pears, removing center. Fill with cream cheese mixture, smoothing ends neatly. Put clove in end for stem. Chill and serve with dressing.
A composed fruit salad of the luncheon-plate school, built to look like a whole pear on a lettuce leaf. Everything depends on the pears being dry and the cheese being soft enough to pipe but firm enough to hold.
- "1 package cream cheese"In older American recipes a package of cream cheese usually meant the small 3-ounce size rather than the 8-ounce brick common today. Three ounces is the likelier intention; if you use a full block, scale the cream and nuts up.
- Whole canned pearsCanned pears are now almost always sold in halves. If you cannot find whole ones, fill two drained halves with the cheese mixture and press them together to rebuild the pear shape.
- Drain and dryBlot the pears inside and out with paper towel before filling. Syrup left in the cavity thins the cheese and the filling will slump on the plate.
- Softening the cheeseLet the cheese come to room temperature before beating in the two teaspoons of cream, otherwise it will stay lumpy and refuse to smooth at the ends.
- The clove stemA whole clove pushed into the narrow end is decoration only. Warn guests, or remove it before serving, since biting one is unpleasant.
- "Serve with dressing"The recipe does not say which. For a fruit salad of this kind a sweetened cooked or boiled dressing, or mayonnaise loosened with a little of the pear syrup and lemon juice, would be in keeping.
- Chilling and yieldChill until the filling is firm before serving. Six pears make six servings as a salad course.