Christmas Salad to offset those Christmas treats

Oh my goodness, I am beyond excited that this is my first post on my new blog! How awesome that I finally get to test it out in full, and you guys get to come along for the ride. Hopefully I manage to work out all the kinks in this first one and then we can really get the ball rolling from here!

So I went to a Christmas dinner with friends, and we were asked to bring a plate. Naturally, as I always do, I gravitated towards desserts. I was thinking about what delicious thing I could whip up for the event, and what would work best for the number of people. However, this planning was brought to a halt when we were asked to make the salad. It got me a little stumped; I mean although I eat a lot of salads, I am not really one to whip out a salad for a dinner party. I really had no idea where on earth to start and what we were going to do, I mean how does one make a delicious salad that everyone is going to enjoy? I feel like you can’t turn up to these things with a basic garden salad and go ‘hey everyone, eat these delicious leaves. Merry Christmas!’ It needed to have a bit of an interesting twist to it that also brought a bit of Christmas cheer.

I was lucky enough that I didn’t need to just use what was at the house but had enough time to go to the stores and pick up some ingredients, which meant that the options were widened beyond ‘this is what I had lying around in the fridge’ to ‘this is actually a decent salad’. However, the issue I found when looking for inspiration for salads was that slight problem that Australia is on a different season to America. So all those amazing looking holiday recipes involving delicious winter fruits were not really going to be an option. As much as I love summer fruit, I find winter fruits and vegetables really lend themselves to Christmas baking. But no matter! I persevered and found a recipe that worked for Australian summer, which is a good thing to find given how hot it is here at the moment!

This salad was maybe not the healthiest of salads, but man was it tasty. I love salads that have a good mix of sweetness, saltiness, crunch and lightness, and this certainly delivered on all fronts. I think it made a great accompaniment to the amazing Christmas feast our friends put on, but would also be a delicious stand alone salad for any occasion. I especially loved that when it was finished it was full of bright, Christmas colours, because if you are going to eat salad at a Christmas event, it should at least be festive!

What’s more, this was really simple to make. I’m not talking salad simple where you don’t need to cook anything, but simple enough that you are able to make an impressive and tasty looking salad that is beyond throwing together some salad leaves, cucumber and tomato. This salad is sure to impress, and a perfect bring along for any of your Christmas functions!

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Christmas Salad with Maple Candied Walnuts

Author: Ella Eats

Ingredients

• 2 cups of raw walnuts
• 1/3 cup of pure maple syrup
• ½ teaspoon of cinnamon
• Pinch of Sweet Paprika
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup of dried cranberries
• 275 g of crumbled feta
• 4 cups of mixed greens I just grabbed a mixed bag that included baby spinach from the supermarket
• 2 cups of rocket
• Seeds from one pomegranate
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• ¼ cup of balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of fig jam
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and link a baking sheet with baking paper. Pour the walnuts onto the baking sheet and toss with the maple syrup, cinnamon, paprika and salt to coat evenly.
2. Spread the walnuts across the pan and place in the oven for 15-25 minutes, or until the walnuts are toasted and golden, and the maple syrup has hardened. Stir 2-3 times throughout to ensure even baking. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
3. Pour the greens into a large salad bowl. Add in the pomegranate seeds and cranberries, and then add the cooled walnuts. Gently toss to combine before adding in the crumbled feta.
4. Make the dressing by whisking together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, fig jam and salt and pepper to combine completely. Place in a jar with a lid until serving.
5. To serve, give the dressing a good shake and pour over the salad. Gently toss to combine and serve immediately.

My only recommendation with this salad is that it does yield a large volume, and if your bowl isn’t big enough, it will be difficult to toss. I ended up having to top up the leaves as we went because I couldn’t fit it all in. So make sure you use a nice big serving bowl to ensure everything is tossed around evenly.

I can’t even describe to you how delicious this salad was. The candied nuts were so good I could even eat them on their own! I might need to make a batch to snack on now that I’m talking about them because they were so good. The salad itself was a great balance of flavours, and all the ingredients really came together. I also love the twist on a traditional olive oil and balsamic dressing with the fig jam, it really brought together the whole thing.

All in all, this was a beautiful salad that would be perfect all year round. You could halve the recipe if you are only feeding a couple, or keep it as is and bring it to a dinner party! It was surprisingly filling too, which means that you could really enjoy it on its own or with something else as we did. It also really wasn’t that bad for you, all things considered. I mean, it is Christmas afterall, so the salad game really needs to be stepped up to compete with all that amazing food! And it has greens in it, so it’s totally good for you! Regardless of how you enjoy it, this recipe is sure to bring some Christmas cheer to any meal!

Until next time, happy eating!

Ella xx