pomegranate persimmon salad with leeks, a simple thanksgiving part 4

i love this salad. the pomegranate seeds look like jewels. the persimmons are a slightly sweet and crunchy interesting counterpoint to the greens and the leeks. very festive and a nice light addition to a holiday menu.

pomegranate persimmon salad

serves 6 - 8

12 ounces mixed baby greens, rinsed and dried

1/3 pomegranate, seeds only (about 1/3 cup)

1 large or 2 small fuyu persimmons, peeled and sliced

1 leek, finely sliced

dressing

2TBSP pomegranate cherry juice

3TBSP seasoned rice vinegar

3TBSP extra virgin olive oil

(a touch of dijon mustard or some minced shallots is nice here but i usually skip it because i am overwhelmed in the kitchen at this point) assemble ingredients. whisk up the dressing. pour. toss. serve. bon appetit.

persimmon pomegranate salad with mixed baby greens

i am so done with thanksgiving. it was great, nicest one yet we all concurred. but that heavy holiday food. oh my. happily, one light spot on our menu is our traditional thanksgiving persimmon pomegranate mixed greens salad. crunchy, tart, leafy, tasty, acidic counterpoint to the rest of the meal. i invented this salad about 8 years ago and we've been eating it by popular request ever since. at the time, we were living in tiburon, california, with our lovely panoramic views of the golden gate bridge and the bay from our kitchen/living room windows (my that was nice) and locally grown persimmons as well as pomegranates from southern california were abundant in the markets.

luckily, due to the magic of modern food distribution and transport, something i am thankful for every day (and especially at the holidays), i can still get these ingredients, high quality and quite fresh here in connecticut. if i was going to be a locavore, which i never will be, i would have to live in central california i think, or some other equally fertile growing region in the world. i am sure someone from new england did not come up with that locavore concept, had to have been a californian, although i'm just guessing here. i would have to build a greenhouse system to get local food and apparently that has a higher carbon load than shipping food (according to BBC news) from its traditional growing region. i just cant live without grapefruit and avocados and artichokes, chocolate, coffee and tea. or wouldn't want to. anyway, other than the pumpkin pie, (which i have professed my profound love for here on cup and table many many times), this is one of my favorite items on our yearly thanksgiving menu:

pomegranate persimmon salad

serves 6 - 8

12 ounces mixed baby greens, rinsed and dried

1/3 pomegranate, seeds only (about 1/3 cup)

1 large or 2 small fuyu persimmons, peeled and sliced

1 leek, finely sliced

dressing

2TBSP pomegranate cherry juice

3TBSP seasoned rice vinegar

3TBSP extra virgin olive oil

(a touch of dijon mustard or some minced shallots is nice here but i usually skip it because i am overwhelmed in the kitchen at this point) assemble ingredients. whisk up the dressing. pour. toss. serve. bon appetit.

winter fruits

january, and then february, (and yes usually even march), can be a bit dreary here in the northeast. new england is famous for its winters. yet i remain defiant. i try to enjoy winter outside by going to the beach for a walk (dressed very warmly) or a jog. and i head into new york city for lively museum visits and lunch at trendy restaurants or dinners with friends. and i try to keep the inside of my house in denial that winter is even happening outside. i have a variety of tricks for this. and no, none of them involve staying in bed reading and hiding under the covers eating chocolate until april. no, i keep a large quantity of tropical plus other fruits in the larder. yes there are still some good apples now and citrus is wonderful. loving the grapefruit we have been getting lately. and the organic blueberries from chile are AMAZING right now this week. but also some pomegranates and best of all, passion fruit. we are all crazy for passion fruit around here.

passion fruit are grown in either california or new zealand and are available off and on throughout the year. a passion fruit is not ripe until it is nice and wrinkly, and becoming a bit soft. slightly wrinkly and you may have a tart inedible fruit on your hands. once you have purchased your lovely passion fruit, you wait patiently for several days or more and let it get all uniformly wrinkly and then it is time to cut open. but if you just slice right through it, the juice runs all over the place. and it is so delicious i don't want to waste even one tiny drop (although it is impossible not to spill a little juice every single time). so, to remedy this wasteful situation, i cut the fruit almost all the way through, drop my knife, and seize the two halves (still joined) and right them. little bowls of passion fruit goo. insert spoon into said goo. congratulate yourself on a job well done. enjoy. gorgeous luscious fruits, beauty in the dead of winter.