Prepare the vinaigrette: place all of the ingredients for the vinaigrette with the exception of the salt into a small bowl and whisk together. Add salt to taste. Set aside.
Prepare the salad: Trim off the ends on the zucchini and then by hand or using a vegetable mandolin, cut the zucchini into strips about a ¼-inch thick. Cut small slits widthwise into the zucchini strips at opposing ends (watch video as reference to this step).
Lay the first strip out onto the work surface and begin laying assorted greens, sliced pear and prepared vegetables on top. Gather the zucchini up and bend to form a circle, fitting the two end slits together to form a standing cup. Stand onto a salad plate and tuck pomegranate seeds into the greens.
Place cut tomatoes, microgreens and additional pomegranate seeds onto the plate around the salad cup and give everything a sprinkling of chopped mint and a drizzle of vinaigrette. Add a sprinkle of kosher salt and fresh-cracked black pepper and serve immediately.
Easy Gourmet Salad
Ingredients
For the salad:
1 zucchini
2 cups mesclun greens
1 pear, thinly sliced
½ red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup of pomegranate seeds
1 cup yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
½ cup fresh mint, finely chopped
handful of microgreens
For the vinaigrette:
½ cup of walnut or vegetable oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 teaspoon of fresh thyme, finely chopped
juice of half a lemon
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon of honey
kosher salt to taste
Directions
Prepare the vinaigrette: place all of the ingredients for the vinaigrette with the exception of the salt into a small bowl and whisk together. Add salt to taste. Set aside.
Prepare the salad: Trim off the ends on the zucchini and then by hand or using a vegetable mandolin, cut the zucchini into strips about a ¼-inch thick. Cut small slits widthwise into the zucchini strips at opposing ends (watch video as reference to this step).
Lay the first strip out onto the work surface and begin laying assorted greens, sliced pear and prepared vegetables on top. Gather the zucchini up and bend to form a circle, fitting the two end slits together to form a standing cup. Stand onto a salad plate and tuck pomegranate seeds into the greens.
Place cut tomatoes, microgreens and additional pomegranate seeds onto the plate around the salad cup and give everything a sprinkling of chopped mint and a drizzle of vinaigrette. Add a sprinkle of kosher salt and fresh-cracked black pepper and serve immediately.
Easy Gourmet Salad
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A collection of favourite greens, presented with fresh fruit and vegetables drizzled with a honey mustard dressing.
Need a first course salad idea? Try this EASY GOURMET SALAD!
In most hotels and restaurants, chilled appetizers and salads come from a station in the kitchen called the garde manger. As we’d expect, these items come to table looking both appetizing and visually appealing. We created this EASY GOURMET SALAD for those occasions when you need a first course for a gathering or fancy dinner party.
Here are a few things to consider when you go to make it:
GREENS
This salad is all about offering you and your guests many layers of flavour, so using an assortment of greens works best. Look for mesclun greens with assorted leaf. Baby spinach, arugula, beet greens, oak leaf, Boston or Bibb lettuce plus frisée all work perfectly. You can also add microgreens as they’ll add even more detail to the visual attractiveness.
ZUCCHINI
Zucchini is important in this salad because we use it to create the collar or cup that the assembled salad sits in. Here’s yet another chance to use a vegetable mandoline but if you don’t have one you can cut the thing strips of zucchini by hand. I’ve also provided a link to purchase a mandoline below.
FRUIT, VEGGIES AND MINT
Adding paper-thin slices of fresh pear or apple will impart a welcome sweetness to this salad, and don’t be shy to also tuck in slices of mango, papaya and melon. Fingers crossed you can track down a fresh pomegranate as well – its jewel-like seeds give the salad a pop of colour and flavour.
I purposely included the thin slices of red pepper and halved yellow cherry tomatoes to give the salad some colour and I added the chopped mint to make the finished appetizer even tastier. I encourage you to add other colourful veggies into this mix – the more, the merrier!
VINAIGRETTE
Since this isn’t a toss-and-serve salad, I’m calling for a light vinaigrette that can be gently spooned onto the greens, then drizzled on the mint-dusted tomatoes and pomegranate seeds. Try to make the vinaigrette the day before, giving the shallots ample time to soften and impart their sweet flavour to the blend. Watch our 1-minute video on how to make our HONEY-CITRUS VINAIGRETTE.
Prepare the vinaigrette: place all of the ingredients for the vinaigrette with the exception of the salt into a small bowl and whisk together. Add salt to taste. Set aside.
Prepare the salad: Trim off the ends on the zucchini and then by hand or using a vegetable mandolin, cut the zucchini into strips about a ¼-inch thick. Cut small slits widthwise into the zucchini strips at opposing ends (watch video as reference to this step).
Lay the first strip out onto the work surface and begin laying assorted greens, sliced pear and prepared vegetables on top. Gather the zucchini up and bend to form a circle, fitting the two end slits together to form a standing cup. Stand onto a salad plate and tuck pomegranate seeds into the greens.
Place cut tomatoes, microgreens and additional pomegranate seeds onto the plate around the salad cup and give everything a sprinkling of chopped mint and a drizzle of vinaigrette. Add a sprinkle of kosher salt and fresh-cracked black pepper and serve immediately.
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