Resolution: Eat Interesting Salads

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS? Sure, I make them. They kick in on January 7.

Now, you might wonder: why do I wallow in an extra week of decadence and bad habits, when most people have been subjecting themselves to the honorable ritual of self-improvement for a full six days already? Is it some strain of rebellious DNA? Or perhaps I’ve been forced to play a disorganized round of catch-up because the first of the year took me by surprise (tell me, who can keep track of what day it is during the holidays?). But really it’s neither of these things. Instead, you can blame it on Epiphany and the galette des rois. Since taking up that buttery, flaky, frangipane bit of tradition, my Christmas season has been extended through all its official twelve days, and I can tell you that during that time, there’s not a partridge or a pear tree in my sight—not much of anything that grows on a tree, actually, unless it’s a cacao tree.

I exaggerate, slightly. It’s not that I abandon all healthy foods during the holidays, it’s just that the ratio of healthy to hedonistic gets very lopsided in my December kitchen, and then those extra days of indulgence in January kind of do me in. Which is good in a way, because now I’m ready—really ready—to clean up my act.

Part of that effort for me this year means trying to create (and eat) more interesting salads. In winter, this can seem daunting, although I am starting to warm to the possibilities. But year-round, I suspect that I don’t eat enough salads mainly because I forget that they can be interesting, attractive to both the eye and the palate. Growing up, the salads I ate were good but routine, which is to say boring. Fine in the summer when you had no appetite, but otherwise, just something that satisfied nutritional needs in the most pedestrian way. This might have had something to do with the lettuce that was most often in our refrigerator (iceberg), and also with the limited repertoire of ingredients we thought “should” go on a salad: tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots; occasionally some sliced bell pepper or button mushrooms. I do know this: the day I saw sliced, fresh pear on a bed of greens was a revelation. By all the laws of my youth, fruit was supposed to be in fruit salad, not mixed in with the veggies. (Tell me we were all so green once; they are called salad days after all.)

Thankfully, I’ve left those days behind. Pear and blue cheese on a salad? That’s the tired cliché for me now. I do wonder whether pomegranates and Cara Cara oranges are any more inspired, but they are certainly more colorful, and they’re definitely delicious. Perfect for a New Year’s Resolution meal—no matter how many weeks into the year you enter that game (if you do at all).

Here, I’ve started my salad spree by building a plate full of SuperFoods. Spinach, oranges, walnuts, and pomegranates have been linked to cancer prevention, cardiovascular health, and lower risk for diabetes, to name just a few life-saving benefits. Yet while this salad looks ahead to a healthier year, it also takes a final glance back at holiday cheer: pomegranates, which are Persephone’s food—jewel-like winter kernels, bursting with antioxidants—play an important role in Greek New Year’s customs; gently tossed at the threshold of a home, their spilling seeds indicate prosperity for those who live within.

Popping with color, playing with texture, this salad anticipates the joyful, springtime reunion of Persephone and Demeter. Add some excellent feta and a dressing of olive oil and pomegranate molasses to this plate of super-nutrients, and you’ve got a meal that any mother would approve of.

Here’s to more salads, or whatever your own culinary resolutions happen to be.

Demeter & Persephone’s Antioxidant Salad

Yield: serves 4 as a starter

Ingredients:

For the dressing

1 Tablespoon pomegranate molasses

1 Tablespoon white balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoons honey

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

1/8 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

5 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

For the salad

8 cups loosely packed fresh baby spinach leaves

6 ounces feta cheese (I use Greek sheep-milk feta)

1 orange (try the Cara Cara orange for its brilliant, reddish hue)

1/2 cup walnuts

1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

Method:

Prepare the dressing. Combine the pomegranate molasses, balsamic vinegar, honey, orange zest, salt and pepper in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Cover and shake well to blend. Add the olive oil; cover and shake again. Adjust seasoning to taste. (Alternatively, whisk together all ingredients except the olive oil in a small bowl until well blended. Then, drizzle in the oil while whisking continuously until thoroughly combined.) Set the dressing aside while you prepare the salad.

Prepare the salad ingredients. Rinse the spinach leaves thoroughly in cool water and give them a whirl in a salad spinner to dry; or, you can blot each leaf gently between kitchen (or paper) towels to dry. Cut feta cheese into eight slices, approximately 1/2-inch thick. Slice four thick rounds of orange, removing the peel and as much of the white pith as possible from around the outside and inner core of each slice. Measure out enough fresh pomegranate seeds and shelled walnuts for the salad.

Assemble the salad. On four plates, arrange the spinach leaves to form an attractive bed of greens. Next, on each plate place two slices of feta and one orange slice. Scatter the pomegranate seeds and walnuts over all, distributing evenly. Drizzle the vinaigrette over each salad—just enough to moisten (up to 1 tablespoon, but I find that just a teaspoon or two works best). If the dressing has separated, be sure to shake or whisk it again before pouring over the salad.

Tagged as: healthy, pomegranates, superfoods