Video:Cranberry Goat Cheese Salad With Mesclun Greens

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Transcript:Cranberry Goat Cheese Salad With Mesclun Greens

Hi this is Ben Kurtzman for About.com Food, and today we are going to be making one of my favorite salads. If you are looking to do something a little bit different from your average tossed salad, one thing you can do is get creative with flavors and textures. Ingredients such as seeds, nuts, fruits and cheeses can lend a little bit of creativity to your common salad and take it up to the next level.

Wash Mesclun Greens

Ice burg lettuce and romaine lettuce are popular choices for salad, but we are going to use mesclun greens, as you can see here. Mesclun lettuce is smaller and more delicate than other kinds of lettuce, and therefore more difficult to wash and dry.

An inexpensive salad spinner, which can be bought at any kitchen store, can really help with this task. The centrifugal force is going to expel the excess water out of the basket, and leave the lettuce dry and ready to eat. Looks like we are ready to go.

Combining Salad Ingredients

To top our salad today I am going to be using red onions, which add a crisp texture to the salad. We are also going to be using dried cranberries, which are sweet. We are also going to be using caramelized walnuts, although pecans or regular walnuts or any nut you like would work. I happen to like the caramelized walnuts and I saw them in the store today, so we are going to be using those. And these add a crunchy texture as well.

And finally we have some goat cheese. Now if you normally use American or Swiss cheese, this is a nice alternative and it is really creamy. So you have all kinds of textures in this salad. You have the creamy, the crunchy, the crispy and the chewy.

Assembling the Salad

To dress our salad we are going to use balsamic vinaigrette. Here is our red onion. Beautiful. And now I am going to add our dried cranberries. I am going to add the carmelized walnuts now, and now this is just a very soft cheese, so I am just going to break it up with a fork. This looks delicious. Now I am just going to take a little bit of the dressing, dress the salad, and that is it. It is ready for you to enjoy.

Thanks for watching . To learn more visit us on the Web at food.about.com.