With the holidays right around the corner, having friends to your home to celebrate the joy of the season is a treat to behold both for you and your guests. Last weekend I prepared an intimate dinner for four to kick off the holidays and welcome some new neighbors to Weston. They have just recently relocated from Connecticut and getting aclimated to their first winter in Florida is coming pretty naturally. What a wonderful way to make folks feel welcome, invite them to your home to share a meal.
The meal was a fairly simple selection, stuffed pork tenderloin, sweet potato mash and green beans. Nothing too sophisticated but adding fresh herbs and dressing up a side salad with cranberries, made the meal quite festive. I'd like to share 1 of the recipes from this meal, the salad was a very simple yet elegant combination of Baby Arugula, Frisee, Walnuts and a Cranberry vinaigrette. This is a "homemade rendition" so I'll share the ingredients with you. This will serve 4 nicely.
Mixed Greens with Cranberry Walnut Vinaigrette
4 Tbsp. lemon flavored olive oil
2 Tbsp. champagne vinegar
1 Tsp. honey
1 small shallot finely diced
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup walnut pieces toasted
2 cups baby arugula
2 cups frissee
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Prepare the greens, dry them thoroughly and place in a zip loc bag in the fridge. You can do this earlier in the day, remove the air from the bag and the greens will stay very crisp. Place the dried cranberries in a small pyrex bowl, cover with water, and microwave for 30 seconds. Let the berries sit in the warm water to soften.
In a small mixing bowl, combine the olive oil, vinegar, honey and shallot. Drain the cranberries, add them to the dressing, season to taste with salt and pepper and mix with a whisk to combine all ingredients. You can prepare this, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, refrigerate until 30 minutes before serving.
When ready to serve, toss the greens and the dressing together, divide on 4 plates and sprinkle with toasted walnuts.
More to come regarding Thanksgiving dinner specialities.
Bon Appetit!!
