A large salad with all the best fall flavors: pecans, pomegranates, Brussels sprouts, bacon, kale, goat cheese, and a delicious sweet mustard dressing. Perfect as a main dish or as a side - and a great item to bring to gatherings.
Author Shannon Lyon | Plum Street
Ingredients
Sweet Mustard Dressing
4tablespoonswhole grain mustard
1/3cupmayo
2tablespoons sour cream or Greek yogurt (plain)
1/4cupapple cider vinegar
1/2teaspoongarlic powder
1/4cupmaple syrup
Fall Harvest Salad
2headsKale
1poundBrussels sprouts, sliced thin (slice each one into 3-4 slices)
6-8 stripscooked bacon, cut into small pieces, or crumbled
1cupcandied pecans(I started buying mine pre-candied to save time but you can sweeten them yourself if needed by cooking in a nonstick pan with a little maple syrup)
1pomegranate, arils removed(or you can buy just the Arils, already removed)
crumbled goat cheese
1tbspolive oil
3tbspapple cider vinegar
salt
Instructions
Sweet Mustard Dressing
Whisk all dressing ingredients together. Store in the fridge for up to a week.
Fall Harvest Salad
Brussels Sprouts: Preheat oven to 425°F. In a medium-sized bowl toss cut Brussels sprouts with 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil. Once coated turn out onto large rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with salt and bake for 20-25 minutes until slightly charred. Remove and set aside.
Bacon: If you haven't cooked your bacon already, do that while the Brussels sprouts are baking. Pan fry the bacon until well cooked and set aside to cool on paper towels to absorb the grease.
Kale: Prepping your kale is an important step to it tasting great and helping it absorb some flavor. First start by cutting out all the veins of your kale leaves. Once those are removed, using a large chef's knife, slice your kale into thin strips. The thinner they are, the easier they will absorb the flavor. Place kale shreds into a large bowl and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon of salt.Then using clean hands, slowly start to massage the kale by grabbing large portions and squeezing together. Keep doing this for 3-4 minutes until the kale softens up and reduces in size by about half.
Build your salad. Start with the kale as the base, then add on the Brussels sprouts, the bacon, the pecans, then the pomegranates, and finally the goat cheese. Mix mustard dressing again, or shake, before using. Drizzle generously with the dressing and toss well. Top with a little more goat cheese before serving.