Citrus Green Salad with Pomegranate, Marcona Almonds & Balsamic Vinaigrette

I never get tired of creating new salad combinations. This one combines some of my favorite ingredients: pomegranate seeds, marcona almonds, goat Gouda and a variety of citrus. Today, I used grapefruit, honey tangerines and blood oranges. 

Citrus Green Salad with Pomegranate, Marcona Almonds and Balsamic Vinaigrette 

-1 box mixed salad greens

-2 grapefruits

-2 or 3 Honey Tangerines or regular oranges

-2 or 3 Blood Oranges

-1/2 pint Spanish Marcona Almonds

-Goat Gouda (small wedge), crumbled

-1 pomegranate

Balsamic Vinaigrette

-extra virgin olive oil

-juice from one lemon

-balsamic vinegar

-kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper

-honey

-stoneground Dijon mustard 

-1 garlic clove, crushed

For the vinaigrette: combine lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, garlic, honey & mustard in a small bowl. Let sit for about ten minutes and then slowly whisk in the olive oil, in a slow steady stream. 

For the salad: cut the grapefruit into supremes. Supremes are segments of citrus that have all of the membrane removed. To do this, cut off both ends and then stand on one flat end. Cut the peel and white pith off following the contour of the piece of fruit rather than cutting straight down. Once all peel and white pith is removed, hold the fruit in your hand (best to do it over a bowl to catch all of the juice) and cut in between the segments, with the blade of the knife following the membranes. The cut fruit will kind of look like the pages of a book and you will end up with membrane free, beautiful fruit segments. For the tangerines and blood oranges I started out like I did when doing supremes, but instead of the last step of cutting the fruit into segments I sliced it into rounds. 

Next, remove the seeds from the pomegranate. I have a very fast, simple technique for doing this and will try to post a video. (Once I figure out how to post videos!) 😒 

To assemble the salad, place the greens in a large bowl and drizzle with a small amount of vinaigrette. (It's always best to start out with too little dressing since you can always add more. Nothing worse than overly dressed, soggy salad in my opinion) Toss the salad and add more vinaigrette if necessary. Place a small amount of greens on each salad plate and top with the citrus, pomegranate seeds, goat cheese and almonds.