Holiday Tossed Salad with Pears, Cranberries, Gorgonzola & Walnut Vinaigrette

Hurrah! Hiller’s has arugula “verity” in stock – this is the arugula with bite; the arugula that barks back at you and tastes like peppery greens you grew yourself. Not to discount the pervasive boxes and bags of arugula in every produce market in town; I use them often by default. But their flavor is mild, to my palate. So when I find free-form arugula, I can’t resist grabbing a bunch. (Yes, you may have to wash it a couple of times, but it’s well worth the effort.)

Of course the ingredients in the salad below are just suggestions. Use goat cheese instead of gorgonzola, dried cherries for cranberrys, yadadada. Click here to see a similar salad I made this time last year using pistachios and pomegranate seeds.