Orange pear salad with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing

Name: Orange pear salad
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 5 min
Ingredients: 2 small mandarin oranges; 1 small pear; 2 cups tightly packed mixed salad greens; 1/8 cup chopped red onions; 1/4 cup pecans/ walnuts; 1.5 tsp olive oil; 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar; 1/2 tsp dijon mustard; 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper; 1/2 tsp salt; 1/2 tsp maple syrup

September 18, 2018

Just a while back, a school friend of mine (Abhi) pinged me on insta telling me he goes through my blog whenever he can & tries out recipes from it every now & then. Infact, he had tried the kadai paneer that I had posted just yesterday. Overwhelmed is probably not even the accurate word to describe my feeling (is there a combined word for overwhelm, gratitude & humbled?). I started blogging a year back in an extremely amateur manner (just took the plunge one day) and what’s been propelling me more than anything else is the feedback & encouragement from people. This is a guy with whom I haven’t spoken with in a longggggg time (maybe over 12 years). We have been the typical fb friends where we have merely acknowledged our friendship by being on each others friends list and nothing more :D. From that to getting a personal message from him is HUGE for me. It also means another thing for me which is a personal HUGE as well – I am actually back in touch with him. This has happened to me with quite a few people ever since I started blogging (yet another reason I am happy for blogging). Basically, I am happy & I am ranting. So, the end :).

Now about this recipe – I was talking to my co-sister the other day & she was suggesting I put up more salads so she can get ideas from that (my BIL mostly takes salads for lunches). Hence, I decided to do a few salad posts (there are 2 more coming up). This one was absolutely outstanding. I have always been meaning to combine fruits with salad leaves & never got around to do it actually. I would occasionally add some pomegranate kernels to my mostly veggie salad and that was it. Finally, I got the sense to try out mixing fruits with salad leaves & god, it’s given me a whole different perspective of salads. The natural sweetness from the fruits & the tanginess in this case from the orange added a certain twang to the salad which I probably need a facial expression to insert here to explain how awesome it was :D. Anywho, this salad is super simple to make & gets done with not too many ingredients. I used to always try and add 10 different things into a salad. These days, I try & keep it as simple as possible so that I don’t waste anything or I am not pushed to eating the same thing for many days :D.

Orange pear salad

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

5 mins

Course: Salad

Cuisine: International

Servings: 1 large bowl

Ingredients

2 small mandarin oranges
1 small pear
2 cups tightly packed mixed salad greens
1/8 cup chopped red onions
1/4 cup pecans/ walnuts

For the dressing

1.5 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp maple syrup

Instructions

Peel the oranges & chop them into small pieces. You can remove the skin on each peel if you want.
Scrape the skin of pear & cut them in cubes.
Toast the pecans/ walnuts in a small pan till they crisp up.
In a large bowl, mix together the salad greens, oranges, pear, onions & pecans.
In a small bowl, mix together all the dressing ingredients - olive oil, dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, freshly ground pepper, salt & maple syrup.
Pour this dressing over the salad & devour immediately. So so yummmmm.
If you want to have this for later, then pour the dressing & toss in the pecans right before you have it. Refrigerate till then.

Recipe Notes

I forgot to add onions while taking the pictures & then remembered to add them. I like the sharpness of the onion amidst all the sweetness of the fruits. However, even without it should be perfectly fine.
The balsamic vinegar seemed to perfectly compliment the tangy oranges. But if you don't have it, just regular vinegar or lemon juice should be fine.
The juices from the fruits were literally bursting in my mouth. This is seriously one of the best salads I have ever had.
However, the next time around I make this, I want to add a protein like feta/ halloumi & see how the taste is. I bet that should be good as well.
Whatever extra orange juice I got on my hand while chopping the fruit, I put it on my face as a simple pack :D.

Stepwise pictures

Peel the orange & pear. Chop it off into small pieces. You can remove the skin of the orange if you want to (takes slightly more time if you want to do this). Wash & chop salad greens. I used pre-washed & chopped salad leaves. So I just had to throw it in. Toast pecans in a small pan & add it as well. Combine well.