Holiday Salad
INGREDIENTS
½ cup toasted pecans (halves or pieces)
5 ounces baby arugula or mixed greens
½ cup gorgonzola cheese (goat or feta also work well)
1 large ripe Bartlett pear, thinly sliced
1 apple of choice, thinly sliced (Honeycrisp or Gala)
Arils from 1 pomegranate
Almost Naked Kooshy Croutons
Champagne Vinaigrette (see below)
1/3 cup Champagne vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 lemon, juiced
1 small shallot, finely diced
1 tsp honey
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
DIRECTIONS
1. Toast pecans in a pan over medium heat, stirring often, until they start to turn golden on the edges, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and roughly chop (if starting with pecan pieces, no chopping necessary).
2. Arrange lettuce across a large serving platter or bowl. Sprinkle chopped pecans, Almost Naked Kooshy Croutons and crumbled cheese over lettuce and add apple & pear slices. Next, let the fresh pomegranate arils rain down over the salad.
3. To prepare the dressing, combine all of the ingredients except olive oil then gradually drizzle oil in while whisking until mixture is well blended and smooth. OR vigorously shake in a mason jar for a quick vinaigrette hack. Taste and balance out with more salt, pepper or vinegar as needed. You do you!
4. Wait to dress the salad until you’re ready to serve - you don’t want your guests seeing any wilted greens! Feel free to just toss some more croutons in there since it is the holidays after all : )