Winter Salad and Citrus Vinaigrette is a good-for-you salad with in-season citrus fruit and a vinaigrette that can be made in five minutes!
This winter salad is very simple to make and so customizable! Here we have butter lettuce, spinach spring mix, citrus fruits chopped up, cherry tomatoes, red onions(optional), slivered almonds, and pomegranate seeds. Anything goes here…such as kale, dried fruit, and any variety of nuts. The sky is the limit I’m sure! The star of this bowl of salad, in my opinion, is the amazing vinaigrette.
Who has picked up the Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar at Trader Joes?? If you haven’t then you should! I do not know how long that they will have it available so, run and get it. That is exactly what we used in the vinaigrette for this salad and it is so so good! If you do not have a Trader Joes anywhere nearby then a white wine vinegar will do.
Vinaigrette Ingredients
Garlic: I used 2-3 cloves and minced as fine as possible. If the texture of the garlic(in a vinaigrette) bothers you then 1 teaspoon of garlic powder will do just fine.
Olive Oil: Gotta have that always and make sure that it is a good one. Nasty tasting olive oil will ruin anything that you use it in!
Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar: This is so good! White wine vinegar can be substituted.
Lemon juice and zest: This adds a little punch of flavor.
Orange juice: Can’t have too much orange flavor here!
Honey: Optional but good.
I love a good side salad and this one does not disappoint! It goes really well with this marinated chicken recipe that I posted recently.
Winter Salad and Citrus Vinaigrette
Ingredients
Citrus Vinaigrette
- 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar or white wine vinegar
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 tbsp fresh orange juice
- 1/4 tsp lemon zest
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp honey(optional)
Winter Salad
- 1 head butter lettuce, torn
- 3-4 cups Spinach Spring Mix or any salad greens
- 2 cups oranges and grapefruit, peeled and sectioned
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/2 cup almonds, slivered
- 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
- 1/4 cup red onion, thinly sliced(optional)
Instructions
- Mix all vinaigrette ingredients and set aside. This can be made a day ahead.
- Layer salad ingredients in a large serving bowl starting with lettuce and greens and ending with almonds and pomegranate seeds.
- Just before serving pour about 1/4 cup of the vinaigrette over salad and toss to coat. Or serve on the side.
- Save remaining vinaigrette for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.