Arugula salad with caramelized onions, brown sugar walnuts, pears, and crumbled Gorgonzola cheese. Healthy, delicious salad - perfect side dish for all kinds of main dishes!
I haven't posted a single Thanksgiving-related recipe this season, and what am I posting the night before the Thanksgiving Day? Not a recipe for stuffing, pie, pumpkin soup or potato gratin. No. I am posting a salad recipe. A Thanksgiving salad recipe - Arugula salad with caramelized onions, walnuts, pears, and Gorgonzola cheese. Who eats salads on Thanksgiving, you might ask?
Truth be told, I've been so busy for the last 2 weeks (but I won't mire you with details), that all of my Thanksgiving cooking this season will have to happen only on one single day, which is tomorrow. Besides, arugula seems to be a very much Thanksgiving type of green, isn't it? So, it's not too bad for a pre-Thanksgiving night. And, on a second thought, this arugula salad could be a great post-Thanksgiving detox meal, as well: you know, after eating too much turkey, it might not be a bad idea to just have a simple arugula salad for lunch the next day. So here it goes:
Brown Sugar Walnuts:
Caramelized Onions:
Sliced Pears:
Arugula salad with caramelized onions, walnuts, pears, and Gorgonzola cheese
Ingredients
Salad Dressing:
- 2 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
- 4 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 tablespoon Honey
Salad Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion , thinly sliced
- a pinch of salt
- ½ cup walnuts
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 5 oz arugula
- 1 pear , thinly sliced
- ¼ cup Gorgonzola cheese , crumbled
Instructions
Salad Dressing:
- Mix vinegar with agave nectar, then add oil, whisking until emulsified.
How to caramelize onions:
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium size frying pan on medium-high heat. Add thinly sliced onions to the pan once oil gets very hot. Cook onions, stirring constantly, until they turn brown and caramelize to your liking, about 10-15 minutes. While caramelizing onions, add a pinch of salt to your taste.
How to caramelize walnuts:
- Heat 1 tablespoon butter in the medium frying pan on medium-high heat, add walnuts and 1 tablespoon of brown sugar. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring, to coat the walnuts until caramelized. Allow them to cool.
Assemble salad:
- Add arugula leaves to a large salad bowl. Add caramelized walnuts and caramelized onions. Add the salad dressing and mix. Top with sliced pears and crumbled Gorgonzola cheese.
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
This is so beautiful. Your're dish stimulating my appetite and my sense at the same time. Thank for this gorgeous and undeniable healthy dish.
How glorious - it's nice to see a little something light and green at this time of year, when everything is gearing itself towards stodge and fat-laden foods. I will definitely give this a go, except I might change the cheese for a Wensleydale or something sharp because I am not a blue cheese person! I will grab some salad leaves soon and get making this salad 🙂
Substitute Gorgonzola cheese with whichever one you like. Goat cheese would also go pretty well.
My parents and I now stay home for Thanksgiving and make our own meal - prime rib - but when we used to travel, I would have loved this salad for dinner. I don't eat any traditional Thanksgiving foods and I would have happily eaten all of this salad. Happy Thanksgiving!
Love the ingredients..we favor them too all together:)