Back when I used to subscribe to Bon Appétit Magazine, one of my favorite features was where people wrote in, requesting restaurant recipes for dishes they loved. (On the other hand, one of my least-favorite features was the monthly article on happy rich people entertaining other happy rich people in their privileged primary/vacation homes--gag. But that's another story.) Anyhow, I was at work the other day and heard of a holiday salad served to rave reviews and pleas to share the recipe. The recipe was then duly begged for by me, but it has yet to materialize.
Pomegranates just scream "holiday." [Photo by Nathalie Jolie on Unsplash
Therefore, when I was shopping at Uwajimaya for the Quadratini wafer cookies my son loves so much and saw a bin of persimmons, I had the urge to attempt the salad myself, based only on a verbal description.
Mind you, I'd never eaten a persimmon before, despite them now being grown across a wide swath of the United States. I haven't any idea if they're water hogs or environmental boons or disasters, or if slaves have to pick them, or whatever. But, just like pomegranates, they're beautiful fruit for a holiday salad, and pretty tasty, too. The main variety for sale has a kind of embarrassing name--if one gave one's mother-in-law a box of "Fuyu" persimmons as a Christmas gift, would she be pleased, or would she suspect an underlying message?
Fuyu persimmons (not "Fuyu, persimmons"--see how important punctuation is?)
It turns out my half-remembered, made-up Holiday Salad went over big at dinner, and we had it two days in a row. So I now share my own version with you all, for your holiday tables.
Made-Up Holiday Salad
Serves 4
4 cups torn Romaine lettuce leaves (I might try spinach next)
1 ripe persimmon (should give when you press on it)
1 section of pomegranate seeds
1/4 cucumber, sliced
1/3 to 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
crumbled goat cheese (optional--my 14YO objects to it)
your favorite vinaigrette (the recipe originator called for garlic vinaigrette)
As I mentioned, I might try it again with spinach and possibly some sautéed shallots. Delicious.
So much for the good-for-you food. Now it's back to business, completing cookies for a cookie exchange tonight. That recipe actually started with boxed cake mix(!!!), which is why today's post was not about them.
