The day after Thanksgiving we were invited to our friend Sharon’s house for a casual dinner amongst friends.  Sharon needed someone to bring a salad so I volunteered for the job. I seldom, if ever, bring salads to potlucks because for some reason the main leftover that we always end up having when we have parties is salad. So I scratched my head and thought to myself, I am not going to make a boring tomato and cucumber salad. I looked in my fridge for some inspiration to see what I had for some inspiration. Sure enough, the good Persian girl that I am I had walnuts, feta cheese, and fresh pomegranates.  Ding, ding, ding, ding!! I hit the jackpot! Three Persian favorites that could come together and make a delish combination. And this is how my Festive Salad made with lettuce, pomegranate seeds, walnuts and feta cheese with a pomegranate vinaigrette came about!

Much to my surprise the salad was gone, all gone!! YES! I could not believe my eyes! I didn’t even get a chance for a second round. Score! I knew I had done something right when at the end of the evening one of the party attendees asked me for the recipe.  Just to make sure this was a winner, I experimented with it one more time this past weekend.  I took it to our friend Annette’s potluck birthday party and once again gone, baby GONE!!

The reason why I decided to call it Festive Salad is because that’s what the majority of people said about it. “It’s such a festive salad!!!” Best of all it’s super easy to make and it transports well for any holiday parties you will be taking it to!

Ingredients

3 heads of romaine lettuce
2 cups pomegranate seeds
1 cup walnuts, toasted
1 cup crumbled feta cheese

Pomegranate Vinaigrette

4 tbsp pomegranate juice
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp honey
salt & pepper

Make vinaigrette by combining pomegranate juice, red wine vinegar, and honey.  Gradually whisk in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Set the vinaigrette aside for at least one hour before serving salad.

Place chopped lettuce in a large salad bowl. When ready to serve salad first toss lettuce with 2/3 of the vinaigrette.  Then add pomegranate seeds on top, followed by the walnuts and feta cheese. Finish salad by pouring the remaining 1/3 of the vinaigrette on top of the feta cheese. I don’t have the step by step pictures of the assembly because each time I forgot to take a picture of the salad once it was assembled.  But I can tell you it looks soooo pretty!

What I love about this salad is the fact that with every bite you get a taste of the romaine lettuce tossed with the pomegranate vinaigrette along with a burst of flavor from the pomegranate seeds, nuttiness of the walnuts and the yummy saltiness of the feta cheese!

Like I said before, this salad transports well and requires little effort on your part!! All you have to do is make the vinaigrette and put it in a ziplock bag. Then place the lettuce in a salad bowl and separately pack  walnuts, pomegranate seeds, and feta cheese in ziplock bags too.  Then place the bags next to the lettuce and cover it all with plastic wrap.  Once everyone is ready to eat just assemble and see it disappear!!!!!