It's time again for The Salad Bar, hosted by Wendy of The Weekend Gourmet.
This month's theme was pomegranate. I considered sitting out this month because I'm not a huge fan of pomegranate. I don't care for pomegranate juice, but I realized that I had never actually bought a pomegranate and used the arils. I ran across this recipe from Lauren's Latest, and decided to give it a try. She throws the word "holiday" into the title of this salad, and I think that's because the beautiful red arils on the green lettuce are reminiscent of a festively decorated Christmas tree. Perfect for this time of year.
Pomegranate Hazelnut Salad
Ingredients:
4 cups mixed greens
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
½ cup hazelnuts, chopped and toasted
1 pomegranate, arils removed
Your favorite salad dressing
Directions:
Place greens in a bowl or on a plate. Sprinkle with bacon, hazelnuts, and about half of the pomegranate arils. Drizzle with your favorite salad dressing and toss.
Makes about 2 servings.
I liked this salad a lot more than I was expecting. Since I don't like pomegranate juice, I didn't think I would like the arils either, but I was wrong! They're so neat! What else in the world is both crunchy and juicy at the same time? My five-year-old, Lena, loved them too and requested them on her salad.
Lauren's recipe also came with a dressing. Maple Bacon Dressing. Sounded amazing, so I made it to go with the salad. It was NOT amazing. I hate to say it, but it was actually really gross! I don't know if it's because my bacon was from a butcher and not a grocery store variety, but it just tasted like straight-up fat. No flavor. Blech! So I scrapped using the dressing and used a little bit of my favorite honey mustard on it.
I love this salad because it's such a great combination of flavors and textures. Crunchy, juicy, nutty, sweet, tangy, and salty. The best of all worlds! And it's so pretty.
You have my word that next month's salad will not include bacon, as our theme is light and healthy salads!
Love the use of hazelnuts here...perfect for the holidays! Thanks for taking part this month...have a fab week!
ReplyDeleteI love how you used the purple backdrop and purple greens in the salad, it looks stunning with the red pomegranate seeds and the green lettuce. I'm glad this recipe motivated you to buy your first ever whole pomegranate and find out how good the seeds are. You're right that they are crunchy and juicy at the same time!
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