Santa Barbara Salad with Apples, Dates, and Goat Cheese
Scramble fan Ann Callison invented this delectable salad that is a perfect contrast of sweet apples and dates and tart goat cheese. If you have family members that won’t eat salads, serve extra fruit and chicken separately.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/8 cup raspberry or balsamic vinegar
- 1 shallot minced
- 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 6 oz. baby salad greens or use 1/2 head wide leaf lettuce (such as Boston or butter)
- 4 dates pitted and chopped
- 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes halved
- 1/3 cup crumbled goat cheese
- 1/4 cup pine nuts lightly toasted
- 1 red apple such as Gala or Fuji (no need to peel), or 1 persimmon, diced
- 1 1/2 cups cooked chicken strips or 15 oz. canned chickpeas drained and rinsed if using the chickpeas
Instructions
- In a measuring cup or salad dressing bottle, combine the oil, vinegar, shallots, and cinnamon.
- In a large serving bowl, combine the remaining ingredients.
- Whisk (or shake) the dressing thoroughly and toss it with the salad (you probably won’t need to use all of the dressing) and serve it immediately. Refrigerate any remaining dressing for future use.
Notes
Do Ahead or Delegate: Mince the shallot, prepare the dressing and refrigerate, pit and chop the dates, halve the tomatoes, crumble the goat cheese if necessary and refrigerate, toast the pine nuts, dice the apple and toss with a little lemon juice to prevent browning.
Scramble Flavor Booster: Use pre-seasoned chicken strips for extra flavor and add a dash of cayenne pepper to the dressing for extra heat.
Tip: Toasting nuts helps to bring out their flavor. To test for doneness, break a nut in half to see if it has become golden inside. (Watch them constantly because they burn easily.)
Nutritional Information Per Serving (% based upon daily values): Calories 400, Total Fat: 34g, 37%; Saturated Fat: 5g, 23%; Cholesterol: 50mg, 17%; Sodium: 100mg, 4%; Total Carbohydrate: 29g, 10%; Dietary Fiber: 5g, 20%; Sugar: 21g; Protein: 21g
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