A beautiful salad is not only a show stopper at your table, but is also a great addition to a balanced meal.  Salads can be so versatile and there are endless combinations!  I even love to eat salad as a light lunch on busy days.

Pomegranates are such a beautiful fruit!  They are such an amazing color, and bring such a beautiful pop to your salad!  I love to pair interesting flavors.  For this salad I tried pomegranates with roasted butternut squash.  This combination isn’t one you would think of off hand as a great pair, but their flavors blended perfectly!

I put roasted butternut squash, pomegranate seeds, gorgonzola cheese, and toasted hazelnuts with a nice champagne vinaigrette over arugula.   A lovely combination!  Read more to see how to make this beautiful salad!  This could be a great addition to your romantic spread this Valentines Day!

{Arugula with Roasted Butternut Squash and Pomegranate Seeds}

Salad

Arugula
Butternut Squash
Pomegranate Seeds
Hazelnuts
Gorgonzola Cheese

To Roast the Butter nut squash.  Dice the butternut squash into small cubes.  On a baking sheet, drizzle the squash with olive oil and roast in the oven on broil for 20-25 minutes, stirring every so often until cooked through.  Remove, and let cool.

To Toast the hazelnuts, heat oven to 350 degrees. and place hazelnuts on a baking sheet.  Toast, stirring every so often for 10-15 minutes.   Peel off the skin and slice in half.

Arrange the salad with arugula on the bottom and the rest of the ingredients on top.  Toss with champagne vinaigrette.

Champagne Vinaigrette Dressing
makes 2 cups (8 oz)

1/2 cup champagne vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons yellow onion, minced
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4-1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup vegetable oil/ canola oil

Using your blender, place all of the ingredients in the blender and blend well. While still blending, slowly drizzle in vegetable oil.

Enjoy!

there is something simple and elegant about a nice meat, fruit and cheese board.  It can be arranged in no time, but the presentation is a huge wow factor!

there isn’t much rhyme or reason to putting one together either.  i like to put out a few of favorite cheese selections, some sliced dried meat, fruit, olives, and crackers.  but, really you can do a number of combinations.

with the super bowl coming up this sunday, a nice spread like this may just be the winning ticket at your party!

for my cheese board I used:

castelvetrano olives
carr table crackers
dried dates
gruyere cheese
dried sliced salami
cambozola cheese (it’s like a mix of brie and blue cheese, love!)
green grapes
cutie clementine oranges

it also makes for a great snack or a fun lunch!

see more on my zupas post here.

{photo by me, caroline drake}