Pear And Winter Lettuce Salad

I was inspired by a delicious looking salad on Pages 69-70 in the December 2012 Cooking Light.  You can find the recipe and photo here.  I'm not posting their lovely well-lit, professionally shot photo. Their salad is elegant.  Lovely.  A refreshing start to a holiday soiree. If you are having a holiday soiree, by all means, look at their photo and do your best to replicate it.   

 

ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 heads Belgian endive, thinly sliced

1 small head radicchio, thinly sliced

1 large pear, sliced

 

preparation

Combine olive oil, vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add endive, radicchio, and pear; toss to combine.

 

But if you are like me and need to get dinner on the table around 6:00 on a weeknight, I think my salad turned out well enough. I like it because you can prepare everything separately, store it in containers and assemble as needed. I can have this salad again tomorrow and everything will still be fresh and crisp and delicious.

 

 

  

It's a pretty basic salad.  I made a few tweaks based on what I had in the pantry and what I found at the store.  

1. Endive was no where to be found ... I guess it was a Thanksgiving weekend favorite? So, I substituted romaine.   
2. I had red balsamic at home and figured one reason they requested white was because it just "looked nicer".  Again, soiree, make sure you have the white on hand.   
3. Pomegranate juice had a dollar off coupon in front of the display and I really wanted it anyway, so I grabbed a bottle.  (I hope to reduce some down for a glaze/sauce over chicken or pork loin one night soon. YUM!) And since I already "ruined" the white dressing, I added it for sweet and tang and an even richer red color.
4. I added more mustard.  I like that zing.  I'm sure that 1 tsp would be perfectly fine if you are really watching salt closely.
5. And because I knew it would be an entree and I wanted to feel like I had a good meal, I added a few toasted walnuts for the fat and crunch. 

My version:

 

ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon red balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons pomegranate juice

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 romaine lettuce, thinly sliced

1 small head radicchio, thinly sliced

1 large pear, sliced

1 handful of toasted walnuts

DELICIOUS! All I can say is MAKE THIS DRESSING .... this would taste good on a shoe. YUM!! The horseradish like spicy mustard - the pomegranate juice ... oh, it's SO GOOD and such a "holiday" dressing.  It's worth a try! With the amount I made, I still had some left over. I can't WAIT for salad tomorrow!