Cranberry-Pear Salad

One of the many lessons I learned from our CSA experiment is that I do not play around enough with our side dishes. Actually, I tend to ignore the sides most of the time and throw together the easiest, least hands-on dish and call it a meal.

For someone who claims to love food so much, it's really quite embarrassing.

I'm trying to change my ways though!  You might be noticing on my meal plans lately that I'm trying to not list my usual "steamed veg" or "tossed salad" quite so much.  I want to get more specific.  Have more fun.  Live a little!

Like this salad: something that's super-duper simple, seriously easy to put together, and packs way more of a flavor punch than boring ol' steamed green beans.

Cranberry-Pear Salad
Recipe from Food Network Magazine
Prep time: 5-7 minutes

3 tbsp cranberry sauce [Please, please, pretty please use a good-quality or homemade sauce!!]
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp orange juice
1 tsp honey
1 tsp Dijon mustard
5 oz lettuce*
2 medium pears, thinly sliced
1/2 cups diced cheddar
Salt to taste

*I have nothing against romaine or even iceberg lettuces, but I am seriously falling in love with this lettuce. Have you seen it in the store?  It's awesome!! It's just a bit fancier, has more flavor, and you get get a TON in these little four-packs. And while it's not pre-washed, it's nothing a quick soak in a sink full of cold water can't fix.

1.  In the bottom of your serving dish, whisk together the cranberry sauce, EVOO, orange juice, honey, and mustard.

Don't we all have these ingredients lying around our pantries or fridges?

2.  Layer the lettuce, sliced pear, and cheddar cheese over the dressing.  If you are serving immediately, toss to coat. If you are serving this later, only put the lettuce in the bowl, cover and refrigerate until just before meal time.  Then add the pears and cheese and toss to coat. I promise you, the greens touching the dressing will not wilt.

FYI, this is only about half of that lettuce 4-pack.  Yeah, LOTS.

How can you go wrong with crisp slices of pear and big chunks of cheddar?

One of the reasons I stay away from "fancier" side dishes is I tend to think they require a lot of work and focus and attention.  Then I quickly become overwhelmed with trying to split my precious time in between the Star (the main dish) and the Supporting Players (the sides).

Boy how stupid have I been?!  This salad not only tastes fantastic, but it really requires so little from me.  A quick measure and whisk of the dressing ingredients, and then tossing in the rest of it into the salad bowl. Done. And I even have a Get Ahead option by assembling this but waiting to coat it all in dressing. How fabulously easy is that?!?