Louisiana Sunburst Salad

This is a recipe for Louisiana Sunburst Salad. 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.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Cajun

Prep Time 30

Total Time 30

Servings

Calories 328kcal

Author Lea Ann Brown

Ingredients

For the Salad
4 Tablespoon Dried cranberries Craisins
4 Tablespoons Ruby port wine
12 ounces Salad Greens Mesculin micx, mixed baby lettuces like mache, frisee, radicchio, spinach. or a Spring Mix works well here
2.25 ounce almonds sliced, toasted. A small package from the baking section at the grocery store.
½ cup Stilton cheese crumbled, or blue cheese
For the Vinaigrette
½ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup Raspberry vinegar
1 Tablespoon water
5-10 dashes Tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 Tablespoon sugar or honey
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Soak the cranberries overnight in the port. Or for at least 6 hours.
To toast the almonds: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scatter almonds on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake them 5 - 7 minutes or until just starting to turn golden and are fragrant. Watch them closely, as they can burn easily.
In a large mixing bowl, or wooden salad bowl, add the oil, water, vinegar, Tabasco, cinnamon and sugar. Whisk until emulsified. Add the lettuce and toss. Season with salt and pepper. You can also add the vinaigrette ingredients to a mason jar and shake the jar to emulsify.
Place the greens on serving plates and garnish with the crumbled cheese, cranberries, and almonds. Serve immediately.

Notes

Prepare this salad just before serving. If you mix the greens with the vinaigrette too soon, the lettuce will wilt and become soggy.

Chill the plates in the refrigerator a few hours ahead of time. A crisp salad stays crisper when served on chilled plates.

You can substitute a creamy blue cheese for the Stilton. Award Winning Point Reyes Blue Cheese is my absolute favorite blue cheese on earth. Creamy and bold in flavor, it would work well in this salad. Maytag blue cheese is also a quality choice. Maytag blue cheese is produced in Iowa and is a cow’s milk cheese with exceptional blue cheese flavor and creamy texture.

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