Chopped salad with apples, pears, mango, spinach, hazelnuts, and pomegranates

Author Notes

The combination of flavors in this salad is out of this world! It’s fruity, tarty, crunchy, and sweet – all at the same time! It’s like a fruit salad, but with a big savory side coming from spinach and Gorgonzola cheese. Colorful pomegranates with their distinctive sweet-tart flavor, fruit and hazelnuts make this salad look so festive, I will be serving it this Christmas! This recipe was adapted from and inspired by Rainbow Chopped Salad recipe from Epicurious.com Here are the changes I made to the original recipe: I am using spinach instead of romaine hearts. I used balsamic vinegar instead of red wine vinegar, because I prefer balsamic vinegar in a salad dressing. I omitted shallots in the dressing, omitted red cabbage (don’t like either in a fruit salad) and decided not to coarsely chop hazelnuts but keep them whole, for more crunch. Also, instead of blue cheese, I am using Gorgonzola cheese, which in my experience is milder and suits salads much better than blue cheese. —JuliasAlbum