Cooking through Bread and Wine - green well salad

I am most definitely on a Fall kick! I think living in the Northeast has shown me just how exciting it is to experience season changes, although I'd be okay skipping over the winter. I feel like I am relearning the art of the salad. Salads can be really tasty, filling and give you energy! I've always sought out salads for their kick of energy, but when I made them at home in the past I would end up hungry an hour or so later. Then I found the Green Well Salad.

Richard and I enjoyed this on a chilly Monday night. We needed a quick meal before having to complete a project for work and clean up the apartment prior to hosting Community Group the following night. I love that this salad requires not one, but two caramelized onions. Turning your stove on to prepare a salad just feels savory. The dried cherries mixed with pears, grapes and goat cheese make for a mix of flavor in every bite. But what I love the most, and what I think makes it very "Fall" is the maple vinaigrette. Brace yourself... you add maple syrup! 

Enjoy!

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Green Well Salad 

Recipe from Shauna Niequist's Bread and Wine

Ingredients:

1 lb mixed greens

2 onions, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon butter

2 sliced pears

2 cups red grapes, halved

1 cup dried cherries, chopped if they’re the big kind

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1 4 oz container crumbled goat cheese

Maple Vinaigrette:

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 tablespoon Dijon

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

Begin by caramelizing the onions. Slice them thinly and cook them on medium-low heat in a tablespoon of butter until rich, dark brown, about 45 minutes.

For the vinaigrette:

Spoon Dijon into the bottom of a jelly jar. Add balsamic and maple syrup, salt and pepper. Shake well. Ad oil, and shake again. Taste and adjust for seasoning. Set aside.

For the salad:

Toss the greens with half the vinaigrette, then add the rest of the ingredients, the rest of the dressing, and toss again.

If you’d like to make it a more substantial main-course salad , you can add two cups or so of sliced, cooked chicken as well.

Serves 4-6