A rich meal calls for a Zingy Salad.

Arugula salad with sherry vinaigrette

At traditional meals like Thanksgiving, salads can often take a back seat. A beautiful bowl like this one commands attention. It’s full of fan favorites like toasted pecans, creamy Gorgonzola Dolce and pomegranate seeds. Topped with a classic sherry vinaigrette, this salad is perfect.

Ingredients:

1. Washed and dried arugula (do this in advance and wrap it up in a kitchen towel stored in the refrigerator,)

2. One cup toasted pecan halves. (A brief dance around a hot skillet releases all those nutty flavors!)

3. Four Oz. crumbled Gorgonzola Dolce.

4. One small red onion thinly sliced.

5. One Cup Pomegranate seeds taken from the freezer and added just before serving (available at Hannaford and other good grocery stores.)

   
   Method

   Toss ingredients together, sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper to taste. Top, with homemade Sherry Vinaigrette Dressing.

Sherry Vinaigrette

Vinaigrette is an emulsion of acid and oil with other flavors added in for jazz. Since oil and vinegar will separate quickly, an emulsifying agent like mustard or egg is added to keep things together. Some people enjoy Extra Virgin Olive Oil in dressing. Others prefer more neutral oil with less of a sharp tang like grape seed or even good canola oil. Depending on what I’m making, I frequently use a half and half mix of olive and neutral oil. For this dressing, I used all canola oil because of the other strong flavors.

Here’s how to do it.:

In a mason jar with a tight fitting lid, put 1 T minced garlic, 1T finely chopped shallot, 1T finely minced green herb, like thyme and 1 t Dijon mustard together with 1/2 cup of oil and about 1/3 cup sherry vinegar. Screw on top and shake like mad. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.