This salad came about as a consolation recipe when I was unable to find Champagne grapes for Waldorf Salad with Champagne Grapes.
Seasonal fruit is so…seasonal. One week the Champagne grapes were nestled sweetly in quart baskets at my farm stand, Westchester Greenhouse. Two weeks later, they’d vanished, poof, nothing but a deliciously sweet memory until next year.
But I had other seasonal fruit options: In addition to the apples I’d planned to use for the Waldorf Salad, I’d bought a quart of local Bosc pears.
And then there was that aging pomegranate sitting in the fruit bowl, getting drier, harder and closer to spoilage by the day.
I’d splurged and bought this expensive ruby-seeded fruit because it’s a fall favorite of my eldest son. But he’d forgotten to tuck it into his provision bag when he returned to college that weekend.
In addition to their taste and purported death-defying anti-oxidant powers, I’m drawn to pomegranates’ mysterious esthetic: Their rosy, tough skin gives no hint of the crimson jewels nestled underneath in clustered pods.
The pomegranate’s crimson dots enliven this otherwise monochromatic fruit salad. But beyond food styling, they add a lovely sweet-sour crunchiness that’s perfect with ripe pears, tangy Waldorf dressing and walnuts.
Pear Pomegranate Waldorf Salad Recipe
6 Bosc or other pears, peeled, cored and cubed
1/2 cup fresh pomegranate seeds—about 1/2 pomegranate
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons Demerara or plain sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
- Peel, core and cube pears. Sprinkle with lemon juice to keep them from turning brown as you compose the remaining ingredients.
- Cut midway into the pomegranate, then tear open the fruit—you will waste less and create less mess by tearing, rather than cutting the fruit in sections: the pomegranate will separate into seeded clusters. Pick out the seeds.
- In a medium bowl, toss and mix the pears and pomegranate seeds.
- In a small separate bowl, blend the mayonnaise, sour cream, sugar and lemon juice.
- Pour the dressing over the pears and pomegranate seeds, add the walnuts and mix gently. Serve immediately.
Serves 8.
