You had me at Champagne! This salad screams Christmas cheer with its holiday colours and bubbly cranberry dressing. I wanted to add a couple of ingredients that really made me think of Christmas, so I selected some dried figs from the pantry. What do you think of when you hear the word fig during this time of year? I think of the Figgy Pudding song by Johnny Cash….have a listen here.
Not sure why, but cranberries have also become a symbol of the season. Cranberries are hung on stockings, on Santa’s red outfit and served as a side cranberry sauce at almost every dinner table during this holiday season. I added a little cranberry in the salad and the cranberry in the dressing but to kick it up a notch in flavour, why not some horseradish mustard by Kozliks. So happy I made that choice.
To balance the heat from the hot mustard and bitterness from the playful cranberries, I added some Canadian maple syrup to balance it, warm it and to bring it all together. The champagne gives it that zing zing I absolutely love and adds much sophistication to this eye candy salad. Give it a try and let me know what you think, and oh oh please take a photo, tag me in it too. Can’t wait and Happy Holidays!
Photography by; Shannon Koroll Photography
My Measurements Tips
- T – is for Tablespoon
- t – is for teaspoon
- Yields: 10 servings
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
Must Haves
- whisk
- large serving bowl
- electric blender
Salad Ingredients
- 454g baby spinach
- 1/2 cup pomegranate
- 1/4 cup diced figs
- 1/4 cup vegan blue cheese ( Earth Island brand )
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup fresh cranberries
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/4 cup whole pecans
Dressing Ingredients
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup dry sparkling wine or champagne
- 2 T horseradish mustard ( Kozliks brand )
- 2 T whole frozen cranberries
Instructions
- Slice the figs and remove the pomegranate seeds from the peel fruit.
- In a large serving bowl, pour in the baby spinach and begin sprinkling all of the ingredients over the salad.
- Pour all the dressing ingredients except for the sparkling wine or champagne into an electric blender. Blend for 1 minute. Pour dressing into a bowl. Add the sparkling wine or champagne and use a fork to mix well.
- Pour the dressing over the Cranberry Champagne Christmas Salad, toss together and serve.