I invented a new salad this week that has challenged my usual preferences in salad. Previously, I have been prejudice against salads with fruit involved. I liked my salads savory, and don't go near me with Raspberry Vinaigrette. Recently, though, we had a friend visit who brought a salad that had pomegranate seeds in it and where I normally would have shunned such an offering (on a restaurant menu, say), I tried it because I wanted to be appreciative of my guest. I was shocked at how much I actually enjoyed it! I am a fan of pomegranate, so that wasn't a breakthrough, but to have it on mesclun greens was all new to me. This inspired me to branch out of my comfort zone and make a green salad that utilized fruit for myself. I remembered a salad that was popular in restaurants in recent years that had Granny Smith apples, gorganzola and walnuts. I took that as a jumping off point. I don't like walnuts much, so I went with cashews instead. The Granny Smiths sounded good, and I love gorganzola, plus I wanted to go with the pomegranate seeds again. To dress the salad I made my own "apple vinaigrette." I used apple cider vinegar, a splash of apple juice, a pinch of sugar, salt, pepper, some oregano and then drizzled in the olive oil while whisking to create an emulsion. The dressing turned out really well, and thickened nicely after a lot of whisking. This is something I will definitely experiment with more in the future (although I still wouldn't say I'm a big fan of the raspberry version). I may never buy another bottle of vinaigrette again!
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