To take a break from the usual salads filled with tomatoes, which seem to be peaking now, I decided to try a salad with late summer fruits instead. In this salad, sweet red grapes and juicy red plums combine with slightly bitter and peppery arugula. The salad is dressed simply with a light vinaigrette. A little feta cheese adds creamy texture and saltiness to offset some of the sweetness of the fruit. Nonetheless, the best part of the salad is the candied pecans. You don't need many of the pecans, but they add a wonderful, sweet nutty flavor as well as crunch to the salad. Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum.
Grape, Plum, and Arugula Salad with Candied Pecans -- Serves 4+
1/4 cup of white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of honey
1/4 teaspoon of lemon pepper
1/8 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup of chopped green onions
1/2 cup of carrot shreds
1 cup of halved red seedless grapes
2 red plums, washed well, pitted, and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
6 cups of arugula washed and dried
3-4 tablespoons of feta cheese crumbles
1/4 cup of candied pecan pieces or halves (I use the kind you buy at Costco in a
big plastic jar)
In a large salad bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oil, honey, lemon pepper, and salt. Stir in the green onions, carrot shreds, grapes, and plums. Add the arugula and gently mix or toss the greens with the other ingredients until combined. Add the feta and candied pecans and mix everything again. Serve the salad immediately.
