Louisiana Sunburst Salad Recipe. A beautiful salad made famous by the Palace Cafe in New Orleans. There’s a lot of special flavors in this salad, but the port poached cranberries are a stand out.
As promised, I’m posting the recipe for the salad our friend Teri brought to our New Orleans Themed Super Bowl Party. Wanting to contribute a Louisiana-themed salad she turned to our friend Google and came up with this tasty recipe from the Palace Cafe in New Orleans, Louisiana Sunburst Salad.
History of Louisiana Sunburst Salad
Wanting to learn more about the restaurant, I found their website. It reads: “Located at the foot of the French Quarter, Palace Café serves contemporary Creole cuisine in an upbeat and lively grand café. As bearers of the torch keeping Creole cuisine alive and vital, Dickie and Palace Café’s culinary team are constantly evolving traditional Creole dishes and creating a few new favorites. The restaurant, housed in the historic Werlein’s music building, has earned local and national critical acclaim since it opened in 1991 including: Best New Restaurant from Esquire magazine and USA Today; the prestigious Ivy Award from Restaurants and Institutions magazine, and Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence.
Palace Café is owned and operated by Dickie Brennan, Steve Pettus and Lauren Brennan Brower. Executive Chef Darin Nesbit and Chef De Cuisine Ben Thibodeaux lead the culinary team.”
So there you have it. This explains it all. A member of the legendary Brennan family is responsible for the fabulous and elegant flavors for this salad. The addition of cinnamon in the dressing makes this very unique.
A perfect side dish for any Cajun or Creole main dish, or in my humble opinion, this works well alongside a big beautiful grilled steak or BBQ Chicken.
Recipe for Louisiana Sunburst Salad
I hope you give this Cajun themed salad a try, and if you do, please come back and give the recipe star rating and leave a comment about your experience with the recipe. Bookmark this one and thank you Brennans. I’m interested to know, have you been to The Palace Cafe?
And if you have a favorite New Orleans, Louisiana themed salad recipe, let me know, I’d love to give it a try.
More Salad Side Dish Ideas
- Crunchy Spinach Salad with Bacon
- Baby Kale and Apple Salad with Cider Vinaigrette
- Hearts of Palm Salad with Avocado
- The Drunken Wedge Salad
- Company Lettuce Salad with Chow Mein Noodles
And if you’re salad fans like us, don’t miss my post on 9 Secrets To A Remarkable Tossed Salad. A step by step guide on how to make the best tossed salad ever.
Louisiana Sunburst Salad
Ingredients
- 2 ounces dried cranberries
- 2 ounces ruby port wine
- 24 ounces mesclun mix mixed baby lettuces like mache, frisee, radicchio, spinach
- 2 ounces almonds toasted
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 ounce vegetable oil
- 2 ounces crumbled Stilton cheese or blue cheese
- 2 ounces raspberry vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 ounce water
- 5-10 dashes of Tabasco
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Soak the cranberries overnight in the port.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the oil, water, vinegar, Tabasco, cinnamon and sugar. Whisk until emulsified (Dan don’t make me do an emulsification demonstration). Add the lettuce and toss. Season with salt and pepper.
- Place the greens on a plate and garnish with the crumbled cheese, cranberries, and almonds.
