Orange-Strawberry Salad with Pomegranate Dressing

So my Love and I have the flu. Of course we do. After all, this was a four day weekend for me. So, to make it lovely, the flu came in for a landing on my head at 4:45PM on the way home from work. No reservations or anything. Just an uninvited house guest who has definitely over stayed.

Bah. I will rejoice the day oxygen returns to flow through my nasal passages.

Until then, I’m going to share a little fresh fruit joy with you all. I made this salad last week to share with some friends from work… and then selfishly ate it myself for dinner (okay.. I share with my Love) and lunch. I couldn’t help it. It was irresistible.

You see, the week before I received two lovely packages in the mail. One, from Kettle Cuisine (GF frozen soups) and the other from Pom Wonderful. I’m saving my Kettle Cuisine to feed me once the Chicklet arrives (which BY GOD – had better be soon as I’m dying already!). If you would like to know about them now, however, pop on over to Jill Elise – she’s got a lovely review them here.

The PomWonderful box of tiny 8-ounce curvy-gurly bottles was perfect timing too.  And hey – who doesn’t love those bottles!  Easy for kid-hands and adult-hands alike, if you ask me.

Now, I’m not one to down a glass of unadulterated pomegranate juice, but I adore using it in smoothies, syrups, salad dressings and I’ve even been known to drizzle it over my yogurt parfait at lunch. There is something about the flavor profile of pomegranate that intrigues my tongue.

I keenly remember tasting pomegranate at school for the first time and then rushing home and having my mom buy some more so we could open them and eat them together. I have to say this: I am *quite* thankful that I can buy my pomegranate already in seed form if I so choose these days. While I love pomegranate, I have not mastered the easy-seeding so many others have. In fact, the seeds were the one thing missing for this salad that I wish I would have had.

Alas, with no pomegranates on hand, I ventured forth intrepidly into the refrigerator to find some other fruit salad ingredients. In the fruit drawer I found some heirloom navel oranges, a few blood oranges, and some strawberries. Easy. All of those mixed with about 1/3 cup of diced red onion and I was ready for the dressing.

This dressing is easy to make. The olive oil helps make it smooth (and some will tell you that a little oil with your salad helps your body absorb the nutrients better…. but I don’t know if that is true. Do you?) and the red wine vinegar enhances the sweet pomegranate flavor nicely. In fact, I love this dressing so much that it was one of the first things I made today. I am feeling a bit better and need to get moving – so what a great way to kick off the return to life work but with a great salad and dressing for lunch.

Orange-Strawberry Salad with Pomegranate Dressing
Makes enough to serve 4.
Ingredients:
4 medium-large navel oranges
2 blood oranges
1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds, if available
1/3-1/2 cup red onion
Pomegranate Dressing, to taste

Directions:

1. Using a sharp knife, trim the top and the bottom of each orange so that it will stand flat. Use the knife to then slice off the peel down each side a bit deeper than just peeling it. (You want to remove the membrane from the sides of the orange so you can just see the flesh of the fruit and each membrane dividing the fruit sections.)
2. Carefully hold orange in your hand and slide a thin sharp knife along one membrane and then along the other side to release the section of fruit without any membrane. Do this with each section of orange and then gently squeeze the orange over the top of the fruit.
3. Repeat steps one and two with each orange and blood orange until you have a small bowl filled with orange sections.
4. Add the sliced strawberries and red onions (or more strawberries, if you’d prefer).
5. Add pomegranate seeds, if you have them.
6. Toss with dressing lightly. Set aside in the refrigerator for flavors to blend for 20-30 minutes. Toss again lightly (be careful not to break your orange sections) and serve.

Pomegranate Dressing
Ingredients:
1/2 cup pomegranate juice, like PomWonderful
3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons olive oil
pinch of salt/black pepper to taste

Directions:
Gently whisk together all ingredients and drizzle over salad.
Store unused portion in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4-6 days.

Enjoy with your favorite fruit too – like pineapple sections, Asian pear slices, etc or even squeeze on some lime or lemon juice. Add a little grilled fish or chicken for the protein-machine in your house and you’re all set.

~Wishing you all good health and/or speedy recoveries!
-Kate