Candied Walnut, Gorgonzola & Cranberry Salad

For my New Year’s Eve party, I was looking for a flavorful, but light, salad to serve between the soup and main course. This sounded perfect! I discovered it while searching the AllRecipes.com site. Here’s the link directly to the recipe. All of my guests LOVED the salad and raved about the flavor and combination of raspberry vinaigrette, Gorgonzola, walnuts and dried cranberries. It was delightful!

Note: The ingredients listed here will serve 4. I used the recipe calculator on their site to adjust it to serve 10. I was really only serving 8, but wanted to be sure I had enough. There was “just enough”. So, be aware if you follow the directions below “exactly”, it will be four small servings.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup walnut halves

1/4 cup sugar

(I found sugared/spiced walnuts already made in the bulk bins at my grocery store. So I bought those. Cut out some of the prep time!)

3 cups mixed greens

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

1 tablespoon raspberry vinaigrette (I used Girard’s Light Raspberry. It was very good!)

1 tablespoon white vinegar (I substituted white wine vinegar)

1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

Place walnuts and sugar in a skillet over medium heat, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves into a light brown liquid and coats the walnuts. Remove walnuts from skillet, and spread them out on a sheet of aluminum foil to cool. (If you purchase them already sugared – you get to skip this step!)

Place in a large salad bowl the mixed greens, cranberries, cheese, vinaigrette, vinegar, and olive oil. Toss gently; add candied walnuts, and toss again.

Note: I combined the vinaigrette, vinegar and olive oil in a separate container and mixed it until well combined. I tossed everything together – with the exception of the walnuts. I sprinkled those on top of each salad. Very nice presentation.

Click here for printable recipe