While traveling recently, my husband called me from the road to rave about a salad he had with dinner the night before. I asked him to describe it – he remembered arugula, beets, avocado, and a balsamic vinaigrette, but the rest was a blur. I thought it sounded like a great combination of ingredients so I decided to create my own version.
I could visualize the salad, but decided against a balsamic dressing as I thought it might dull the vibrant colors of the other ingredients. I decided on a light, citrus vinaigrette instead.
When choosing the other ingredients, I knew I wanted something very festive and colorful. I found organic pea sprouts at Trader Joes, the color of which was perfect with the arugula and avocado. For another punch of color to complement the beets, I knew it had to be pomegranate seeds. Plus I love the little crunch they have. And that triggered a thought about adding walnuts for a different kind of crunch. I was going to stop there, but decided that since I was going make a citrus vinaigrette dressing, why not throw some orange in as well!
This is a super simple salad to make so I hope you’ll give it a try. And for a vegan version, just eliminate the goat cheese.
Ingredients (makes 1 serving)
1 cup loosely packed arugula
2 small beets, sliced (I use the pre-cooked beets from Trader Joes)
1 orange (dice half for salad, juice the other half for the dressing)
½ avocado, diced
¼ cup pea sprouts (I use Trader Joes’ organic sprouts in the refrigerated section)
1 ounce chopped walnuts
1 ounce goat cheese (Trader Joes sells them in pre-measured little medallions)
¼ cup pomegranate seeds (see this post for instructions – I keep my freezer stocked with them!)
½ lemon, juiced
1-2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Make the dressing first by squeezing the juice from half a lemon and half an orange into a bowl. Add olive oil and whisk until blended. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Arrange the arugula leaves in a bed over the serving dish.
- Slice the beets into ¼ inch slices and arrange them on top of the arugula.
- Dice half of the orange and spread over beets and arugula.
- Spread the pea shoots on top.
- Cut the avocado in half. Remove the pit. Using a knife, cut the avocado lengthwise and crosswise, then gently remove the cubes by sliding a large spoon between the skin and flesh. Place them in dressing, making sure they are fully coated and let sit for 1 minute. The citrus helps keep the avocado from turning brown. (HINT: for the remaining half of the avocado, thoroughly rub its surface with the flat side of a lemon cut in half to prevent it from browning. Place in storage container flesh side down and refrigerate.)
- Spread the walnuts over the dish. Then arrange the avocado pieces and drizzle the dressing (as much as you like) over everything.
- Pull the goat cheese apart into small pieces and arrange over salad.
- Top with pomegranate seeds.
Cheryl Cowtan says
So delicious and beautiful. Rave reviews from family after eating.
Great for wowing your in-laws at Christmas.
Amy says
So glad you liked this, Cheryl! Thanks for stopping by!