Spicy Greens, Delicata, and Crunchy Pork Salad – Whether you’re in need of a break from holiday sweets, or just fancy a healthy and delicious dinner, this sweet and savory winter salad will help recharge your batteries!
Are you a fan of salad for dinner? I am, especially during the last couple of weeks leading up to Christmas. It’s the time of year during which I can easily slip into a cookie coma thanks to my troublesome sweet tooth and lack of self control when it comes to fresh baked goods. I basically plan for willpower failure when it comes to Christmas cookies. Being a mom, I’m pretty much forced to bake, and as a visiting nurse, I find that patients and their families express their gratitude during the month of December by way of chocolates and cookies (I’m not complaining here). With all that in mind, I figure if I keep mealtime light and healthy, I can pull through the holiday season without causing too much stress on my scales. I can also still feel energized, despite my cookie over-indulgence… By the way, if you want an awesome cookie to nibble on, check out my recipe for Chocolate-Dipped Orange Shortbread Cookies!
Today’s salad is 100% inspired by the winter crop share that I belong to. In our weekly share, my husband and I have been getting lovely bags of mixed spicy greens. Things like mustard greens, mizuna, mache, tatsoi, arugula, and frisée. When I was new to eating local and seasonal food, I found them to be some of the most intimidating veggies to prepare. For example, if you bite into a plain old mustard green it’s like, “whoa, that’s bitter!” With some practice and an open mind, however, I discovered that these greens are quite delicious when they’re thoughtfully combined with various acids, cheeses, and nuts. Now they’re some of my favorites, especially during the winter months when I crave fresh ingredients.
To make a meal out of these greens, I combined them with some baked delicata squash as well as some breaded and baked pork sirloin chops. The delicata adds something tender and sweet to the salad, and the pork is crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside. I prepped them in shake ‘n bake fashion and popped them into the same oven with the delicata, making this salad weeknight friendly. The dressing is my Cranberry Vinaigrette, which is packed with antioxidants and is festive for the months of November and December. Add a sprinkling of pecans and freshly-shaved parmesan and these greens are transformed into something that features their best qualities. You’ll want second helpings of this salad and it will certainly clear up your cookie slump – according to my professional medical opinion that is… 😉
Whether you're in need of a break from holiday sweets, or just fancy a healthy and delicious dinner, this sweet and savory winter salad will recharge your batteries! *Recommended brands are Lakewood Organic and R.W. Knudsen. A cranberry cocktail like Ocean Spray won't work for this recipe as it is less concentrated.
Spicy Greens, Delicata, and Crunchy Pork Salad
Ingredients
Salad
Dressing
Instructions
Salad
Dressing
Notes
Meghan | Fox and Briar says
Yes, I am in serious need of a good salad – I have had soooo many cookies this month (and we are only halfway through!). This salad looks so good! The cranberry dressing, the delicata, the crispy pork! Delicious, filling and healthy – so that I can go back to eating more cookies before December ends 🙂
Rachel says
Haha! Enjoy your cookies and salad Meghan! I hope the salad reenergizes you for more cookie eating! 🙂
Such a wonderful combination of seasonal flavors! I love this meal!
Thanks Allie! I hear you’ll be able to get all of the ingredients locally 😉
Funny post! I love the salad and especially the dressing, I have to give it a try.
Thanks Adina! I’ve been all about this dressing this fall/winter. It’s really good paired with things like apples, pears and assorted nuts too.
Salads for dinner are the best – especially this time of year as you say. I’m loving all these baked goods going around, but I feel myself needing more veggies with every cookie I come across. This salad looks fantastic and I love the flavor combos!
Thanks Sarah! I find the holiday season a balancing acting between making good and bad food choices. It’s nice to live a little, but it’s so important for a person to take care of themselves too!
I love that you used crusted pork in a salad. It is something I don’t see a lot of and would adore eating.
I figure breading is good on just about anything 😉 I also must confess, I love all things pork!
I love mixed green salads, they’re the best!
Me too!
I just discovered delicatas last year and boy am I glad I did. I just love them!!!! I am also a big salad fan and this looks right up my alley. Nuts and cheese and spicy greens…yum!
Delicatas are pretty fabulous! I love that more unusual varieties of squash have been more fashionable the last couple of years.
That crop share sounds awesome! This salad is so pretty- definitely would impress company!
This salad looks so unique and delicious! I LOVE delicata squash in salads lately and this flavor combination looks fab!
Thanks Emily. I love the natural sweetness the delicata adds to the salad.
I love salads for dinner and this looks so yummy!
Thanks Sandhya!
Such a stunning salad Rachel. Crazy as it sounds. . . the cravings that I tend to get most often are for salads. This was especially true while living in Kenya. . .where salads were a no-no for this Westerner’s tummy.
Fantastic that this salad is topped with a healthy dose of protein because this is a requirement for the Mr. who is making every attempt to achieve the Rock’s body ;-). Me. . .I like the protein but I also love all the other flavors that you have included, providing a unique flavor combination to explore with each and every bite.
Lynn, I’m all about subsiding on salads and sweets! I hear what your saying about eating salads overseas. I lived in Nepal for a while and to eat salad there was this big process of soaking all of the raw produce in water with iodine drops for a few hours and then rinsing everything really well. After all that I was still taking risk that I lost from time-to-time!
Another gorgeous recipe!! It looks so delicious and absolutely stunning!!
Thanks Neli 🙂
This salad is so gorgeous and colorful – and I love the cranberry dressing. Such a creative way to use seasonal fruits!
Thanks Mary. I have such a sweet tooth, but try to moderate that added sugar, so I just add fruit to everything!