This Orange, Feta, Olive & Arugula salad with Cherry Vinaigrette was inspired by a resolution to eat my greens. This unfortunately, can be a challenge – at least for me (hahaha and most people under the age of 15). Love roasted root veg, bring on the Brussels sprouts, peas, corn, avocados and tomatoes. But leaves, for whatever reason, are a struggle. Recently we purchased a Vitamix, this has been a great help (more on that soon)! Whipping up smoothies with spinach, kale and sorts of greenery happens daily, but I want to develop salad recipes that inspire. So keep your eyes peeled we have some super tasty delights coming your way.
So here goes. The idea behind this salad is to create something that hits the sweet, salty and bitter buttons. A lot of salads that I personally like have a tendency to be of questionable nutritional value – think blue cheese dressing, Caesar salad and greens studded with fried goodies. Mmmmmm fried food! This salad will excite your taste buds while maintaining its integrity health wise.
Someone in the food planning department failed miserably. Sugar and grease should be good for you darn it! 😉
Orange, Feta, Olive & Arugula Salad with Sour Cherry Vinaigrette
3 oranges peeled and segmented
3/4 cup of crumbled feta cheese
6 cups arugula (loosely packed – I never measure, just guess based on taste)
1/2 cup pitted and chopped kalamata olives
Sour Cherry Vinaigrette
3 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp sour cherry concentrated juice or if you can’t find it try sour cherry syrup (Great recipe to be found on Epicurious)
2 tsp of Red wine vinegar
1 tsp maple syrup
dash of salt
Peel and Segment oranges. Pit and roughly chop olives. Mix arugula together in large bowl, spike with crumbled feta cheese, olives and oranges. Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing and toss over greens lightly. So tasty – so lovely and super quick. I’ve been trying to find ways to integrate sour cherries into my cooking. Love ’em and they are good for you. We used Cherry Lane Concentrated Tart Cherry Juice – made with local love. If you can’t find something like this you could experiment with cherry preserves or make the cherry syrup I mentioned above. Epicurious has a great recipe. *** PS I added radicchio to the salad pictured. I loved it – family not so much. If you like bitter then add some!
