Zesty Green Salad Packs a Healthy Punch
Mixed Green Salad with Oranges, Dried Cranberries and Pecans is one of my favorite salads from Epicurious.com
I was tempted to skip soaking the cranberries in orange juice, but it’s worth that extra step. It take the salad from good to extraordinary. I seriously altered the salad dressing, but I always do—I like my salads to have punch.
Cranberries are high on lists of healthy foods because of their antioxidant content. This combination of cranberries, oranges, greens and nuts provides a significant healthy boost. I’ve also used spinach, and finely sliced kale instead of mixed baby greens. And any nut or seed (sunflower, pumpkin) can replace the pecans.
- 1/3 cup orange juice
- 6 tablespoons cranberries dried
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon orange peel grated
- 6 cups mixed baby greens
- 3 oranges peeled and white pith removed, segmented
- 3/4 cup pecans toasted
- Bring 1/2 cup orange juice to simmer in heavy small saucepan. Remove from heat. Mix in dried cranberries. Let stand until softened, about 30 minutes. Drain well; reserve juice.
- In a small bowl, whisk oil, vinegar, orange peel and the juice the cranberries soaked in. Mix in cranberries. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead.)
- Place greens in large bowl. Toss with 2/3 of dressing. Add orange segments to bowl, reserving a handful of pieces. Add pecans, reserving about 2 tablespoons. Toss with remaining dressing. Top salad reserved orange segments and pecans.
Optional: After tossing salad in the bowl, spread it on a platter, arrange reserved orange slices decoratively on top and sprinkle with pecans. The platter makes a prettier presentation.
