Cranberry Orange Lettuce Salad

BOOKMARK

DELICIOUS

Description

You can never have too many great salads. Right?

This Cranberry Orange Lettuce Salad with Orange Poppy Seed Dressing is a nice winter salad when citrus fruit is at its’ peak. The addition of dried cranberries and crunchy toasted pecans complement each other to create a delicious yet simple green salad.

I have a large collection of green salads and I look forward to making this one from late fall and all the way through winter. This is my seasonal strategy, having different recipes that I make when certain foods are in season. All citrus fruit is at it’s peak in our winter.

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Orange Segments vs Canned Oranges

In December I might make this salad with canned mandarin oranges. It’s super easy but also the bright orange colour of canned mandarin segments looks very festive. You can also use fresh mandarins.

For this photo I used the segments of a naval orange cut to remove all the peel and pith around each segments.The culinary term for fruit cut like this is citrus supremes but I just call it gourmet. It is tedious but I like eating grapefruits and oranges like this so I’ve gotten pretty good at it.

Salad Dressing for Cranberry Orange Lettuce Salad

When it comes to salads my dressing is always homemade. I learned to make homemade vinaigrette dressing when I first became interested in cooking and I still do. I never really liked the taste of any store bought dressing so that’s just what I do.

Homemade salad dressing keeps for weeks in the fridge so I always have a few on the go. Buy some salad dressing bottles and add a label when you make it (I love may label maker). These bottles will keep your dressings fresh and uncontaminated. For me the label also acts as a reminder to make this salad again.

Let me know in the comments below if you liked this salad or changed it a bit.

More Salad Recipes

A Round Up of Salad Recipes

Ingredients

SALAD

1 head of soft lettuce, living lettuce or mixed leaf lettuces

1 orange cut into segments or 1 can mandarin orange segments, drained

¼ cup dried cranberries

OPTIONAL – toasted pecans

ORANGE POPPY SEED DRESSING

2 Tbsp honey

2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp dry mustard

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp poppy seeds

3 Tbsp orange juice

¾ cup vegetable oil

Directions

1: In a small bowl combine all salad dressing ingredients except oil. Slowly whisk in the oil until the dressing is thickened slightly. Dressing will keep in the fridge for a few weeks.
2: Wash and dry lettuce. Cut or tear into bite-size pieces and put in salad bowl. Add orange segments, dried cranberries and toasted pecans if using.
3: Toss salad with as much dressing as needed. Serve immediately.