Christmas Salad

I wanted to make a salad for Christmas Eve at the in-laws that had flavors of the season and looked really pretty. So I stepped out of my comfort zone and used pomegranate and jicama for the first time! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Christmas Salad

1 pomegranate
1/2 small jicama
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
2 cups broken walnuts pieces
2 grapefruits
1/4 cup champagne vinegar
1/2 cup EVOO
1 ts dijon mustard
Salt and pepper
1 package spring mix lettuce, rinsed and drained
About 3 Tbls goat cheese, crumbled

Heat oven to 300. In a medium saucepan, mix water, sugar and nuts. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Once water begins to boil, strain out nuts and spread on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, remove seeds from pomegranate and rinse well. Peel jicama and cut into small, matchstick-like pieces. Peel grapefruit and cut or remove segments. The way I do it is cut the top and bottom off the grapefruit. Then cut the peel off all the way around. Slice in between membrane/skin to remove segments without any skin. This should leave enough behind to squeeze out a few Tbls grapefruit juice. Reserve about 2-3 Tbls for dressing.

To make dressing, mix vinegar, EVOO, mustard, salt and pepper and grapefruit juice to taste. Dress lettuce. Top with pomegranate seeds, jicama, grapefruit segments, cooled nuts and goat cheese.