Arugula Salad with Pomegranate, Avocado and Goat Cheese

I’m struggling to write something really interesting about this Arugula Salad with Pomegranate, Avocado and Goat Cheese. I’ve erased the first sentence of this post at lease ten times…

The fact is, this salad is made up of what needed to be eaten out of my refrigerator last night. I got home from my kids’ sports practices pretty late, I was starving, and there you go.

While it may seem like a random combination of ingredients- the bitter arugula, the sweet and crunchy pomegranate, the creamy avocado and the slightly salty goat cheese- it just works. If you don’t have pomegranate molasses for the dressing, you can use honey instead, or just leave out the sweetener.

This arugula salad is lovely on its own, or feel free to add some protein for a more complete meal: cooked chicken or meat, or some beans and/or nuts or seeds would all work (I had it with leftover roast chicken…yummy).

A word about “dealing with” pomegranates: I’ve always loved pomegranates but used to rarely buy them because removing the seeds seemed so difficult and messy. Then I learned about de-seeding the cut pomegranate in a bowl of water- super easy and no more mess! Check out Elise from Simple Recipes’ directions for cutting and de-seeding a pomegranate here.

Arugula Salad with Pomegranate
Serves 2

Ingredients for the salad:

2 large handfuls of baby arugula
seeds/arils from 1/2 pomegranate
1 avocado, sliced
2-3 Tb. cilantro or parsley, chopped
1/4 cup goat cheese, crumbled-optional
Course sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the dressing:

2 Tb. olive oil
1/2 Tb. fresh lemon juice or balsamic vinegar or to taste
1 tsp. pomegranate molasses

Toss the salad ingredients in a medium bowl. In a smaller bowl, mix the dressing ingredients and pour over the salad. Sprinkle with course salt and freshly ground black pepper.

This Arugula Salad is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Laurie from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska. WHB is managed by Haalo!