The Winter Salad Bar,
Planning
and
Cranberry, Pine Nut
and Parmesan Salad
Sometimes life gets very complicated ~ things have to be done and time escapes through the open window leaving you late and behind with all of the everyday chores……….such was yesterday, a day fraught with time restrictions and deadlines ~ trips to government offices, shopping to be done and letters to write, as well as promised commitments to be carried out. I felt like running away from it all by the end of the day and then my husband uttered the immortal words “what’s for tea”! Tea, tea ~ how on earth do I know what’s for tea! Lunch was all sorted as we had some leftover cauliflower cheese with baguette, and then some bread pudding for dessert. But as I struggled with the Wi-Fi set up on the new printer/scanner, my thoughts were not on tea ~ they were firmly fixed on trying not to succumb to an overwhelming desire to throw the new and essential appliance out of the window as the Wi-Fi connection refused to “connect” to my laptop.
Although lunch was a meat-free meal, we often go “meatless”, it was a hearty meal with lots of crusty baguette to accompany the cauliflower cheese, as well as the naughty bread pudding AND custard for pudding; so, a light tea was acceptable. I remembered making a wonderful salad by my friend Cookgirl, a winter salad of epic taste and vibrant colours that would cheer us both up….a meal in itself and, I had all the ingredients to hand. I DID tweak this salad a little bit from the original recipe, but I am sure Cookgirl won’t mind, as her original recipe was the inspiration for this. I must stress that although I am usually found preparing huge vats of comfort food by the end of November, the temperatures were a giddy and balmy 15 degrees C yesterday, and therefore, a salad, albeit a winter style salad, fitted the culinary weather bill.
Back to planning; at this time of the year I am usually making lists and lots of them ~ but I’ve evaluated this compulsive disorder of frenzied list making, this year I am going to calm down a bit and take each day as it comes ~ I may just make the odd list now and then, old habits die hard, but my Christmas Cake and Puddings are made and I have a pantry full of home-made preserves, pickles, jams, jellies, mincemeat, liqueurs and chutneys, so I am going to chill out a wee bit and just go with the flow…….I hope! I am not going to be “spoon fed” into following “countdown to Christmas” articles, designed to send most sane people into a frenzy of time schedules and unnecessary panic, neither am I going to be lured into excessive buying of chocolates, sweets and “posh” biscuits and other sundry “temping” festive offers. No, I am going to stand firm and be calm and relaxed about it all. Broken Wi-Fi connections are but a small inconvenience and I am going to go to bed early more often and read……I will select the book of my choice and luxuriate in time out…….life is going to slow down a bit.
Please do call by later to see if I am following my own good advice ~ the jury, that is my husband, is out on that one! In the meantime, join me at my Winter Salad Bar and please try this salad combination, it would make a BRILLIANT accompaniment for the Christmas buffet table as well as a light supper or lunch dish and just the colours are enough to brighten up any long, fraught and busy day. See you later with some naughty baked treats…….bye for now, Karen.
Cranberry, Pine Nut
and Parmesan Salad
(Serves 2 people as main meal or 4 people as an accompaniment)
INGREDIENTS:
Dressing
- 4 tablespoons unsweetened cranberry juice
- 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
- 1/2 tablespoon honey
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons walnut oil
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- salt and black pepper, to taste
Salad
- 150g mixed mesclun salad leaves
- 75g radicchio leaves, torn into small pieces
- 50g dried cranberries
- 1/2 red onion, peeled and finely sliced
- 3 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
- Freshly shaved Parmesan cheese
- METHOD:
- DRESSING: Combine cranberry juice, vinegar, thyme, honey, Dijon mustard, and both oils together in a glass jug; whisk well and then season to taste with salt and pepper.
- SALAD: Arrange the leaves on a plate and then scatter the cranberries, red onion and pine nuts over the leaves. Drizzle the salad dressing over the salad and garnish with shavings of Parmesan cheese.
- Serve with crusty bread as a main meal or as an accompaniment to pies, quiches, omelettes, cold cuts or grilled meats.
-
smellslikesalad says
Hey! I thought that salad looked and sounded familiar! 😉
FoodEpix says
This looks so delicious. Would love for you to share this with us over at foodepix.com.
Heather says
This looks so nice and fresh! I am terrible at making salads. I dont know what my problem is! But this looks fantastic. Love the plate too!
Jen at The Three Little Piglets says
That salad is SO beautiful! The colors against that plate are just stunning!
Rachel Proffitt says
It hit 22 degrees here today- very warm for this time of year 🙂
Your salad looks lovely- I keep thinking that I could make it and add the seeds of one of my pomegranates to it too 🙂
A Trifle Rushed says
Lovely salad, lucky you 15degrees, we had our first frost yesterday! Jude x
Beth says
Your salad is lovely, and it looks just perfect on that serving dish!
Working london mummy says
what beautiful food, gorgeous plate and photos. stunning!
Laura@howtocookgoodfood says
I love salads and this one looks like something I could eat right now! Your dressing sounds full of flavour too. I love the range of lettuces you get over in France x
A Vintage Chic says
So sorry you had a busy day like that, Karen…NOT my favorite kind of day! Sounds like you survived, though! My goodness, you're organized! Wish I was more that way…I'm trying! Glad you're going to try to relax a bit more during the holiday season…you can do it!
Love the looks of this salad! It does look perfect for the holidays & I'll be trying it very soon!
Thanks for all you share, dear friend!
Julie
Dom at Belleau Kitchen says
nice post… pine nuts in a salad are fabulous aren't they?… to be homest I get totally bored with the blog world at Christmas… everyone writes as though they are the only people doing Christmas ever and they all say the same thing… which is very dull… i'm going to try my hardest not to do too much Christmas blogging this year and I urge you to be creative and do the same x
Kentish Keg-Meg says
When I saw the photo I thought what a refreshing meal. I decided to have a salad tonight even though the weather here is the typical November cold, rainy,windy night. Time out is needed and like you I use that time to get into a book.
Neesie Natters says
I always tend to do the same salad ~ boring ~ but this one looks perfect for the summer holiday season here.
We had 32 degree's C yesterday.
Your salad looks perfect,crisp and clean with all those beautiful colours. Just right for Christmas.
I just need a matching plate now 😀
Good Luck with all the calm vibes x
Neesie Natters says
I always tend to do the same salad ~ boring ~ but this one looks perfect for the summer holiday season here.
We had 32 degree's C yesterday.
Your salad looks perfect,crisp and clean with all those beautiful colours. Just right for Christmas.
I just need a matching plate now 😀
Good Luck with all the calm vibes x
Lauren says
I definitely need to keep this recipe in mind over the coming weeks. Sometimes it's great to get a break from heavier autumn meals. We go meatless pretty frequently, because it seems obscene to spend the kind of money on really excellent meat every night of the week! I'd rather have a fabulous free-range chicken and eat the leftovers for a few days and then have salads to round out the week than have factory-farmed chicken all the time!
I had to go use my converter to figure out what 15C is–sounds lovely! We've had frost already.
Brownieville Girl says
Delicious salad, unfortunately we're having stew weather here!!
I wish I were as organised as you.
Laura says
This looks and sounds very tasty, I love the photos too. I don't eat meat so I'll definitely give it a go. I'm also trying not to get stressed about planning for Christmas. I think I'm failing at the moment though 🙂
Janice says
Looks tasty!
Sue says
What a beautiful salad Karen, your photo's are amazing. I know what you mean by taking it easy, with Thanksgiving over and tons of leftovers I can now sit down and catch my breath. Love your gingerbread house it's so cute and your spiced apple cranberry chocolate tiffin….Gorgeous!!
Baking Addict says
This looks so lovely and refreshing. Love the colours and especially your plate! I'm always running after myself, I feel I need more than 24 hours in a day. I'm not going the whole xmas hog this year as I have other things to do but hey there's always next year 🙂
Maya Russell says
I love pine nuts – they are SO expensive though. Can get a large pack at Costcos – good value.