Dress up your holiday table with this festive and delicious salad! Fresh greens topped with poached pears, candied pecans, dried cranberries and pomegranates in a balsamic vinaigrette make a crowd pleaser combo!.
Perfectly Poached Pear Salad with Pomegranates
Savory, Tangy, a touch Sweet and unbelievably Delicious!
Every holiday meal deserves a fabulous green salad and this one adds great flavor and flair to the table!
This Perfectly Poached Pear Salad makes an appearance at our Christmas Eve celebration every year.
It’s festive and super pretty on a table, and the perfect balance to our Feast of the Seven Fishes!
Poached pears
Dried cranberries
Pomegranates
Candied pecans
Romaine
all tossed in an tangy balsamic vinaigrette.
It’s savory, tangy, a touch sweet and so delicious!
This salad works equally well served with other dishes or it can hold it’s own as a salad course.
It is not often we enjoy a salad as it’s own course, but on Christmas Even we enjoy the Feast of the Seven Fishes and salad is it’s own course, so this salad stands alone and is a real treat at the end of a great meal.
It’s simple but has a lot of flavors… savory, a little crunch with the pecans, a touch of sweet and tangy with the balsamic vinaigrette.
All you need is:
lettuce
pomegranates
candied pecans (easy recipe below adapted from Minimalist Baker)
poached pears (easy recipe below)
dried cranberries
and a simple balsamic vinaigrette.
Pro tip: We like to prep all the ingredients ahead of time but assemble just before serving.
Pro tip 2: We also like to serve it on a flat platter so you can see all the ingredients and it’s super pretty and inviting!
Hope you love it as much as we do!
Scroll down to see the recipe and leave a comment it you try.
Dress up you holiday table! Poached pears, dried cranberries, fresh pomegranates, candied pecans and romaine in an tangy balsamic vinaigrette. Festive and Delicious!
5oz container of romaine or mixed greens (could use more lettuce if ok with less toppings)
1/4- 1/2 cup Dried Cranberries, pending tastes
1/4 - 1/2 cup Pomegranates, pending tastes
Instructions
POACHED PEARS
In a large sauce pan, heat 1 quart water & sugar until sugar is dissolved. (Add any of the additional ingredients if you wish.)_
Add pears & cover with a round of parchment paper, w/ a small hole cut in the center.
Keep the liquid at a very low boil, simmer pears until cooked through, 15 to 25 mins.
Remove from heat and let the pears cool in the liquid.
OPTIONAL: After poaching the pears, while the liquid is still warm, add 1/2 cup dried cranberries and let them plump.
CANDIED PECANS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place raw pecans in single layer on parchment-lined baking sheet and toast for 4 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix remaining ingredients in a heat proof bowl.
Remove pecans from oven and add to bowl with remaining ingredients. Gently stir to combine and place back on parchment lined baking sheet in single layer.
Place back in oven and bake for another 4-6 minutes or until fragrant and golden brown.
Set aside to cool.
Store extra pecans in an a well sealed container.
BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE
In a small bowl whisk all ingredients together. Set Aside.
ASSEMBLE
Mix lettuce with some vinaigrette. Top with pears, pecans, and cranberries then mix more vinaigrette to taste, and garnish with pomegranates.
One thought on “Perfectly Poached Pear Salad with Pomegranates”
Phenomenal with our Christmas ham and sweet potatoes meal. A few adjustments:
Nuts: use less syrup and add a few dashes of cayenne to make the pecans a spicy alternative in the salad – the pears, dressing, pomegranates and cranberries are all sweet; use organic red leaf lettuce for a soft foundation for these exceptional toppings. if you decide to plump the cranberries in the poached pair liquid, be sure you either have cloves in a sachet or remove them first to avoid hand picking through to separate cloves from cranberries. Major success!
Hi! My name is Karen, and I’m the mom in our Healthy Gluten-Free Family. My posts and pictures here and on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter are labors of love that allow me to share a very personal journey with you, one our family has taken together — learning, experimenting and sharing how to raise a healthy happy gluten-free family. Read more ...
Phenomenal with our Christmas ham and sweet potatoes meal. A few adjustments:
Nuts: use less syrup and add a few dashes of cayenne to make the pecans a spicy alternative in the salad – the pears, dressing, pomegranates and cranberries are all sweet; use organic red leaf lettuce for a soft foundation for these exceptional toppings. if you decide to plump the cranberries in the poached pair liquid, be sure you either have cloves in a sachet or remove them first to avoid hand picking through to separate cloves from cranberries. Major success!