Greetings from Heathrow Airport! We are spending today {Boxing Day, the 26th} in transit: Edinburgh to London {7 hour layover!} to Washington DC, and then tomorrow on to my home state of Florida. I doubt very much we will be having anything desperately healthy, although Leon, The Perfectionist’s Cafe, {A Heston Blumenthal venture}, and The Gorgeous Kitchen look pretty promising. You can have a look at my Instagram feed for the unvarnished truth! Whatever the main course I am hoping to have room for one of Heston’s nitro ice creams – how food geeky does that sound?
But in any case I don’t think anything like this salad will feature.
Persimmons and pomegranates make a welcome – and crisp – change from the rich food most of us will have been indulging in over the past few weeks. And if you are American, probably since Thanksgiving! *pats expanded tummy*
Persimmons {Sharon fruit} have only just become a familiar sight in UK produce aisles, but their sweet honeyed crispness is a delicious addition to any winter salad. Packed with Vitamins A and C this tomato-looking fellow is at first a curious prospect to the uninitiated. Do you peel it? Do you just bite into it? Actually, depending on the variety you could do either. This berry disguised as a fruit comes in two main forms – Fuyu and Hachiya, the former being the more common and less fussy – just slice and eat. Enthusiasts in Japan would say that the paler, squatter Hachiya are the best, but that you need to catch them at the point of ripeness unless you like mouth-puckering acidity. In any case, the rotund, bright-orange Fuyu are what we get in the UK so that’s what I have used in this simple but not at all boring salad.
Coupled with uber-nutritious pomegranate – they are both replete with cancer and heart disease-fighting plant compounds – persimmons make for a bright and gorgeous pop of colour at this time of year. I am also using persimmons and pomegranates in smoothies, although mixed in with kale or other greens makes for a rather muddy-looking, “swampy” drink! More on that in #JumpstartJanuary!
persimmon and pomegranate salad with celeriac remoulade
Persimmon and Pomegranate Salad
The key to simple salads such as this is best quality ingredients and a fab dressing. And this dressing is fab. I use it on quite a few salads, including grain-based ones. It calls for pomegranate molasses/syrup, but if you can’t get it just use some of the juice from the pomegranate fruit – it will be less intense but still utterly delicious.
2 handful of mixed salad leaves, including something ‘nippy’ like rocket/arugula {it is a good counterfoil to the sweet fruit and also aids digestion}
1 persimmon {Fuyu used here}
1 pomegranate {smooth skinned and not at all like wrinkled leather} – you will use half
1 ripe avocado
1 handful of walnuts or other nuts, lightly toasted for 8 minutes at 180C/350F, cooled
The Dressing
1 tbsp pomegranate syrup
3 tbsp best extra virgin olive oil
1/8 tsp of salt
1/8- 1/4 tsp cinnamon {try 1/8 first as some cinnamon is more flavourful than others}
twist of black pepper
1. Lay the salad leaves on a platter or in a bowl.
2. Slice off and discard the top of the persimmon; slice the persimmon into slim wedges. Add to salad along with the walnuts. Halve, stone and slice the avocado into the salad.
3. Deseed the pomegranate and add the seeds to the salad. Those of us who eat a lot of pomegranates will have our own methods to deseed them. I favour rolling the fruit on a countertop to loosen the seeds {it makes a horrible, bone-crunching noise!}, cutting it around its ‘equator’ then – over a wide bowl – bashing the fruit cut-side down in the palm of my hand. The seeds rain out of the fruit as you bash away. Quite therapeutic too! Other people cut from top to bottom and pull it apart, picking clumps of seeds {called arils} out by hand. Always throw away the white bits – hard and inedible.
4. For the dressing just add the ingredients to a jar, close the lid tightly and give a good shake. If it seems vey thick, slacken with a wee bit juice from a few of the pomegranate seeds, some water, or even a little lemon juice.
Serve with Christmas leftovers or with anything you fancy.
Here are a couple of other winter salads to consider trying:
Winter Slaw with Pears and Cranberries {no dairy!}
Citrus and Winter Roasted Vegetable Salad with Pomegranate Dressing
Kale and Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Pistachio Dukkah
Lemony Kale, Quinoa and Chickpea Salad with Homemade {and easy} Vegan Parmesan
Pomegranate, Pistachio and Sour Cherry Bulgur Wheat Salad
Warm Beetroot, Lentil and Pepper Salad with Halloumi Cheese {one of my first posts!}
moroccan carrot salad
winter slaw with pears and cranberries
