The Salad in Winter
A salad fit for a king (or queen) in winter filled with beets, lentils, pink celery, persimmons, and pears.
Ingredients
for the salad:
- 1 head leaf lettuce torn into bite-sized pieces
- 2-3 small roasted beets, sliced
- 2 fuyu persimmons, sliced into wedges
- 1/2 red onion sliced, into half-moons
- 2-3 oz crumbled blue cheese
- 1 Bosc pear, sliced
- 2 navel oranges peeled and sliced
- 1 bunch pink celery, cut into sticks and the leaves, if you have them!
- 6 oz beluga lentils cooked and cooled
for the dressing:
- 3-4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Dijon
- pinch granulated garlic
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Arrange the lettuce on a platter, 2 big plates (if serving as a main) or four small plates. Top with remaining salad ingredients in the order listed above. Set aside.
- In a jar or bowl, whisk together (I’ll be honest, I actually just used the spoon I scooped the mustard out with) the dressing ingredients until it emulsifies.
- Drizzle the salad with dressing, serve immediately.
Notes
- Don't have pink celery? Sub regular celery but slice into thin pieces instead of sticks.
- For a quicker salad, use vacuum-packed pre-cooked, unseasoned beets (or roast your own)
- I used par-cooked beluga lentils I buy in a packet at Target and heated (then cooled) them according to package instructions. You can also start from dried.
- Use any vinegarette you'd like, I like balsamic with beets so went with that.
- Don't want to use lettuce? Just toss the vegetables and fruit right in with the lentils and use a little less dressing.
- I did a sort of easier version of supremeing with the oranges--I cut the peel off with a knife and then sliced the oranges rather than segmenting them. Cutting them into supremes them would make for a prettier presentation if you are so inclined.