Winter Walnut, Beet & Pear Salad

This salad is dedicated to our local Mill Valley Market where most of the ingredients were purchased. It is a family-owned market, and many of the items come directly from their family farm.

Not only did the green grocer offer great suggestions for the best combination of veggies for taste and texture (as well as the photograph), he also cautioned me to wait until Wednesday to purchases the lettuces - not an easy thing to do for someone who likes to prep ahead!

Plus, seeing the friendly faces of the staff who have worked there since I started going to the market 27 years ago made very clear why shopping local is important - on so many levels.

*MPM Rating: 5 Persimmons

Ingredients:

Note: After making the salad platter above, there were enough greens leftover to make another large bowl of salad. The dressing recipe is for just the platter; if making all the salad greens in a bowl, double the dressing recipe.

Salad:

1 head red butter lettuce
1 head escarole
1 head little gem lettuce (2 for bowl)
1 head Belgium endive
1 head frisee
1 head radicchio
2 bunches baby beets
1 Bosc pear
1/2 pound French feta*
2 tablespoons fresh dill
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted as shown here, optional

*For paleo, omit feta cheese.

Dressing:

1/3 cup grapeseed oil
Juice of 1 1/2 fresh lemons
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard, to taste
2 tablespoons honey, to taste
1 garlic clove, minced
Sea salt & ground pepper to taste


Directions:

1. For the beets: cut off the tops, rinse, and put in roasting pan. Fill pan to 1/8” with water. Cover the pan tightly with foil, and roast at 425 degrees F for about 40 minutes, or until a fork slides easily into the middle. Set aside to cool. Remove the skins and cut into quarters (can be prepared the night before and stored in a covered container in the fridge).

2. For the walnuts: toast a baking sheets at 350 degrees F for about 10-12 minutes, until slightly browned. Set aside to cool (can be prepared the night before and stored in a covered container).

3. Combine the ingredients for the dressing, whisking as each one is added. Set aside.

4. Rinse and thoroughly dry all the vegetables.

5. Thinly slice the pear with a mandolin and cut the slices in half.

6. For the platter: Arrange the ingredients on the dish in the order presented. Add just enough of each one to fill out the plate. Put the rest in a bowl and set aside for later. Drizzle the dressing on top, with extra on the side. Serve immediately.

For a bowl: Roughly tear the veggies into bite-sized pieces and put all ingredients in a bowl. Add dressing and toss well. Serve immediately.

#salad #vegetarian #glutenfree #healthyeating

Recipe adapted from honestlyyum.com website.

*MPM Rating between 1-5 Persimmons

I try out these recipes so you don't have to (and modify them for Paleo where possible). The rating will reflect my opinion of the final result in terms of taste, ease of preparation, nutrition, and sometimes, cost.