Autumn Salad

An upscale salad that is simple to make and always gets raves from company. The dressing alone is so wonderful you’ll want to double it and serve it over baby greens just for you.

Buy pears that are unripe to ensure they arrive home without any bruises. An unripe pear can take anywhere from 3 to 7 days to ripen on the counter. To speed up the process, place pears in a paper bag along with an apple. Close tightly and check for ripeness in 1 to 3 days. Store ripened pears in the fridge.

Dressing
3 Tbsp (45 mL) balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp (20 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp (10 mL) Dijon mustard
2 tsp (10 mL) pure maple syrup
Pinch of cracked pepper

Salad
8 cups (2 L) organic baby greens
2 large ripe pears, cored and thinly sliced
2 oz (50 g) organic goat cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup (60 mL) unsalted organic raw pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup (60 mL) dried organic cranberries

Whisk together vinegar, olive oil, Dijon, maple syrup, and cracked pepper. Dressing can be made up to one day in advance. Store covered in fridge.

When serving: Equally distribute baby greens onto 4 large salad plates. I like to use large white diner plates for this salad. It adds some glamour.

Evenly divide and arrange on top of greens the sliced pears, crumbled goat cheese, pumpkin seeds, and dried cranberries. Dress each salad with 1/4 of dressing. Serve.

Makes 4 servings but can be doubled to serve 8 adults.

Each serving contains: 254 calories; 8.4 g protein; 14 g total fat (4.8 g sat. fat, 0 g trans fat); 31 g carbohydrates; 4 g fibre; 108 mg sodium

source: "Thanksgiving Dinner Made Easy", alive #324, October 2009