Frisée Salad with Persimmons, Dates, and Almonds

A salad may offer the easiest way to begin incorporating more plant foods into your diet. Salads also lend themselves well to group preparation: One person can prepare the greens while another works on the dressing. You can make the dressing up to four hours ahead.

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

• 1 1/2  cups  thinly sliced leek (about 1 large), divided
• 3  tablespoons  water
• 2  tablespoons  white wine vinegar
• 1  teaspoon  extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2  teaspoon  kosher salt
• 1  ripe Fuyu persimmon, peeled and chopped (about 7 ounces)
• 6  cups  frisée or bagged mâche salad greens
• 3  cups  peeled and thinly sliced quartered ripe Fuyu persimmons (about 3)
• 3  tablespoons  sliced almonds, toasted
• 8  pitted dates, chopped (about 1/4 cup)

Preparation

1. Place 1 tablespoon leek in blender. Place 3 tablespoons water and the next 4 ingredients (through chopped persimmon) in blender; process until smooth.

2. Combine frisée and remaining leek in a large bowl, and toss with dressing. Place 1 cup frisée mixture on each of 8 plates. Top each serving with about 1/3 cup sliced persimmon, about 1 teaspoon almonds, and 1 1/2 teaspoons dates.

Wine note: This dish includes sweet and crisp Fuyu persimmons, so look for a wine with similar qualities. While sauvignon blanc can be grassy or herbaceous when grown in cool climates, Guenoc 2007 Sauvignon Blanc, Lake County ($16) from California brings out the tropical side of the grape with sweet flavors of pineapple and passion fruit, while still offering enough acidity to stand up to vinegar dressing. —Jeffery Lindenmuth

Nutritional Information

Calories:

157 (0.0% from fat)

Fat:

2g (sat 0.2g,mono 1.2g,poly 0.5g)

Protein:

2.2g

Carbohydrate:

37g

Fiber:

6g

Cholesterol:

0.0mg

Iron:

1.2mg

Sodium:

134mg

Calcium:

57mg