This salad is the perfect addition to your holiday menu, I made this for Thanksgiving dinner. The salad and the Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing is the perfect combination of sweet and sour flavors I crave during the holidays. I enjoyed making it because with kids it’s really simple and quick to make. I was on a time crunch to get both boys ready for Thanksgiving dinner and of course Ray decided to throw a full on tantrum because he didn’t want to wear his shoes and jacket. After a battle fought there he decided to dirty his diaper right before getting into the car. And not to mention the fiasco before that scenario the hubby can’t decide what to wear and asks for a hand picked outfit. At this point I have yet to shower, do my hair and make-up and prep this salad as well. So when life is as chaotic as it is you do what you can and give it your best shot, and so Voilà I present to you the Pomegranate and Pear Salad…
There are a variety of recipes for this same salad but I chose to keep it simple and avoid any peanuts and pecans because of allergies in our family. Here is the recipe…
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 3 medium pears, thinly sliced
- 2 medium cucumbers, thinly sliced
- 16 ounces salad green
- Seeds from 1 large pomegranate
For the Vinaigrette Dressing
- 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 Vinegar
- 1 Tbs Mustard
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
Salad Preparation Steps:
- To prepare Balsamic Vinaigrette, measure all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
- Cut the pear slices and sprinkle them with a little lemon juice or a fresh lemon. This is to avoid the pear slices from turning brown.
- Cut the Cucumbers first in half then thinly slice
- Cut the Pomegranate in two halves and place in bowl with water. This makes it easier to take the seeds out and helps to avoid pomegranate juice stains from going all over as you take the seeds out. Another method to take the seeds out of the pomegranate is to cut it in half and hit the half with a teaspoon and the seeds fall out (this method takes too long for me but it’s worth a try).
- In a desired salad bowl, layer salad greens, pear slices, Cucumber slices and pomegranate seeds.
- Right before serving the salad mix the prepped Balsamic Vinaigrette well and mix the desired amount to the salad bowl. Mix the salad and vinaigrette mixture until salad ingredients are evenly coated.
I hope you enjoy this simple and easy Pear and Pomegranate Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette! To add more flavor to the salad simply add a cheese of preference, you can even add walnuts, pecans, or almonds. One recipe suggested adding garlic powder or fresh minced garlic to the dressing. I would love to know what variety of ingredients you tried and how yours turned out!
Xoxo,
NM