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RecipeTin Eats x Good Food: Festive pomegranate salad

Nagi Maehashi
Nagi Maehashi

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The components for this Christmas salad can be prepped ahead and tossed together on the big day.
The components for this Christmas salad can be prepped ahead and tossed together on the big day.William Meppem

This "show-off" salad calls for more effort than opening a bag of leafy greens, but there's nothing tricky about it.

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Ingredients

Marinated kale

  • 7 big, leafy kale stems (you can use baby rocket but skip marination)

  • 1½ tsp extra virgin olive oil

  • salt and pepper

Salad

  • 1 large pomegranate

  • 12 cups (180g) baby spinach (or rocket)

  • 150g gorgonzola, crumbled (or feta)

  • ¾ cup dried cranberries

  • 3 blood oranges (or other oranges)

Honey cinnamon walnuts

  • 2¼ cups walnuts or pecans

  • ⅓ cup honey

  • ¾ tsp cinnamon

  • ¼ tsp salt

Dressing

  • 3 tbsp pomegranate molasses

  • 7 tsp red wine vinegar

  • 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

  • ¾ tsp each salt

  • ¾ tsp each pepper

Method

  1. 24-48 hours ahead

    To marinate the kale, remove leaves from kale and chop into bite-size pieces. Place in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Scrunch with hands for 20 seconds and leave for 30 minutes or overnight to marinate. The leaves will soften.

    Honey cinnamon walnuts

    Toss walnuts with honey, sprinkle with cinnamon and salt. Spread on a baking tray lined with paper and bake at 180C (160C fan-forced) for 15 minutes, tossing once halfway. Cool, break up into smaller pieces and store in a container.

    Dressing

    Put ingredients in a jar and shake well.

    Pomegranate seeds

    Cut pomegranate in half and, over a bowl, turn cut side down and use a wooden spoon to firmly smack the back of the pomegranate. Store in fridge.

    Christmas Day

    Slice the peel and pith off the oranges and then segment. To assemble the salad, toss kale and spinach leaves with 3 tablespoons of dressing. Place half of the kale/spinach mix into a large serving bowl. Sprinkle with half the walnuts, cheese, pomegranate seeds, orange segments and cranberries. Top with remaining kale/spinach mix, then remaining walnuts, cheese, pomegranate seeds, orange segments and cranberries. Drizzle over remaining dressing just before serving.

    This recipe features in RecipeTin Eats' make-ahead Christmas menu

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Nagi MaehashiRecipeTin Eats aka Nagi Maehashi is a Good Food columnist, bestselling cookbook and recipe writer.

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