Spinach, Pear, and Walnut Salad with Pomegranate Vinaigrette

March 21, 2009

I’ve been eyeing the bottles of POM juice at the grocery for some time now, trying to figure out what use I could put that much pomegranate juice to (besides just drinking it of course). Pure pomegranate juice is expensive and I didn’t want to have any excuse to waste it. On our trip to the Outer Banks last week we had lunch at a little gourmet deli where I ordered a spinach salad and pomegranate blueberry vinaigrette. After one bite I knew I had to create my own! While I found the vinaigrette recipe on a web search (at Oprah.com of all places), I put together my own ingredients for the salad base. Baby spinach, semi-firm pears, tart dried cranberries, crumbled feta cheese, and crunchy walnuts combine beautifully together. The bright ruby pomegranate vinaigrette is aromatic, sweet, and my favorite dressing yet! I’ve had this salad every day now since I first made it. I can’t stop eating it. I can’t stop thinking about eating it. Thank goodness there is some left from dinner last night…lunch can’t come soon enough! Because I’ve still barely made a dent in the bottle of POM sitting cheerily on the top shelf of my fridge, there will be more pomegranate recipes to come. I’ll probably experiment with a few more dressings as well. Until then, happy POM dreams!

INGREDIENTS
6 oz. baby spinach
2 ripe (but still firm) Bartlett pears, thinly sliced
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup dried cranberries

Vinaigrette:
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp. pomegranate juice
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. honey
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS
1. Divide spinach among 4 serving bowls. Top with pears, walnuts, feta, and cranberries.

2. To make the vinaigrette combine pomegranate juice, vinegar, honey in a small bowl. While whisking, drizzle in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

NOTE: DO NOT use a food processor to make this dressing. It will completely change the color and texture of the dressing- it just doesn’t work!

3. Serve salad drizzled with vinaigrette, or on the side.

Serves 4.

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