If you love salads, this Orange Pistachio Salad, full of bright, fresh, satisfying flavors will be right up your alley! There are beautiful orange segments, crunchy pistachios, sweet cranberries, peppery arugula and smoky salmon, to name a few of it’s star ingredients. I also added a fun ingredient called freeze dried corn. They are light, crunchy and sweet! The same concept of adding croutons, but much healthier, or at least that’s what I tell myself.
I actually came up with my Orange Sherry Vinaigrette dressing because of this salad! I had supremed, or segmented, my orange, to get the wedges for the salad. This technique gives you the 
fresh orange segments while leaving behind the tougher membrane covering each orange wedge. Once I had the orange segments, I then squeezed what was left of the rest of the orange, I had about 3 tablespoons of delicious fresh juice to use in the vinaigrette! Which I then used for this salad. It was definitely a win-win situation!
The best thing about this salad is how deliciously all the ingredients play off each other. Now, I love smoked salmon of any kind. In this case I used a lox style sliced salmon and layered it on the bottom of the serving platter. But if you have hot smoked salmon (the thicker filets), you can use that too. Just flake into big chunks and add on top. Or, if you aren’t a fan of smoked salmon, leave it off completely and have a perfect vegetarian salad!
It’s easy to make other substitutions to suit your tastes too. I used goat cheese, but feta is delicious in this salad. If you don’t have the freeze dried corn, use roasted sunflower seeds. Make this light, flavorful, beautiful, healthy and satisfying main dish salad tonight. You will impress yourself and your family! For a heartier meal, you can serve it with garlic biscuit knots or rolls on the side.
Orange Pistachio Salad with Smoked Salmon and Arugula
- Yield: 4-6 1x
Description
This salad is packed full of bright, fresh, satisfying flavors!
Ingredients
- 2 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
- 4 cups arugula, chopped
- 1/2 cup of Orange Sherry Vinaigrette
- 4 oz package of smoked salmon, lox style
- orange segments from one large naval orange
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
- 1/2 cup roasted, salted pistachios (or other nut of choice)
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup freeze dried corn
- goat cheese or feta cheese
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the romaine and arugula. Toss with the Orange Sherry Vinaigrette.
- Layer the smoked salmon around the edge of your serving platter. Mound the romaine/arugula mixture on the platter.
- Arrange the orange segments around the platter, on top of the smoked salmon (or however you think looks good!).
- Sprinkle the red onion, pistachios, cranberries, dried corn and cheese on top.
- Serve with extra vinaigrette on the side.
Notes
As with any salad, substitutions are easy. If you don’t have freeze dried corn, use sunflower seeds!
Use any kind of nuts or cheese you like, and leave off the salmon if you are not a fan of it.
