Once I've made a few laps, I'm ready to enjoy my other favorite Nordstrom department: the Cafe. The food at Nordstrom is like their merchandise: beautifully presented and of the highest quality. Everything I've eaten there has been yummy, but their salads are especially delicious.
The last time my mom and I went, we shared the most amazing spinach salad with a Dark Cherry Balsamic Vinaigrette. She bought me the salad dressing so I could recreate it at home, and although we rarely buy salad dressings because they're so easy to make, this one was definitely worth purchasing (you can buy it at the Cafe).
The Nordstrom Cafe Spinach Salad had bacon, candied pecans, red onions, goat cheese, and dried cherries; in our re-creation, we left out the bacon and used toasted pecans instead of candied (it was a weeknight, so we were being good).
It's really amazing what a few quality ingredients (and the right combination of them) will do for a would-be-ordinary salad. The tangy creaminess of the goat cheese, the tart chewiness of the cherries, and the nutty crunch of the pecans created a harmonious balance of flavors and textures. My taste buds were singing!
If every salad was this good, I'd consider becoming a vegetarian (who eats bacon, or course). Even the "knock-off" version of this salad was stylish and scrumptious!
So, I want to know...what salad do you adore? Caesar? Pear and gorgonzola? Share your delicious ideas! As always...
Happy Searching,
I love the combination of pear and gorgonzola, but matching the dried cherries and goat cheese is a nice change but still a familiar pairing. Sweet, tangy, and creamy is hard to beat, especially when you add the crunch components of nuts and bacon. So good. It's funny that you mention us being good on the weeknight since I believe that was just a starter salad. I'm pretty sure there was an entire meal that followed...
ReplyDeleteLove that salad and had a simular one at Rubys the other day except with blue cheese and apples. I was also being "good" and didn't have my usual peanutbutter milkshake to go with...you know what I'm talking about. :)
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