A Delightful Salad for Dinner

One of my goals this year is to try to make one new recipe each week, in the hopes of not only finding some new favorites for our household, but also to really expand my tastes and skills, learn new techniques and combinations, and get introduced to food stuffs that I don't normally use.

My mother gave me a few issues of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food, and I have been looking through them and earmarking several recipes I'd like to try. Her Arugula Salad with Sweet Potatoes and Feta from the November 2009 issue caught my eye. And when we went to the farmer's market on Sunday we found the most beautiful arugula bunches, so of course we got one. I already had some sweet potatoes in the pantry, and instead of feta I decided to use the creamy blue cheese that we had leftover from our cheese-filled New Year's Eve celebration. I added the walnuts because we just bought a half pound of lovely local walnuts from the farmer's market, and I thought they would be a great addition. The dressing originally called for fresh orange juice and orange zest, but with no oranges in the house I just made do with what we had already, and it turned out to be a delightful combination.



Adapted from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food, November 2009

Arugula Salad with Sweet Potatoes

Peel and cut about 1 pound sweet potatoes into 1 1/2 inch chunks. I used about 3 medium potatoes for two of us. Toss them with some olive oil, put onto a rimmed baking sheet. Season with fresh ground pepper and salt to taste. Bake at 450 for about 20 minutes until tenter and browned a bit. Let cool while prepping the rest of the salad.

Prep two plates with washed and trimmed arugula. Chop up about 1/4 cup walnuts, and less than 1/4 cup creamy blue cheese. Of course, use as much or as little of either as you like.

In a medium bowl whisk together 2 tbps olive oil, 1tbsp lemon juice, and 1 tbsp apple juice (I recommend organic unfiltered). Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the potatoes to the dressing and mix to coat. Spoon onto each salad, spoon remaining dressing from bowl onto salad, and top with nuts and cheese.