Baby Romaine Salad with Clementine and Salsa Vinaigrette

I love salads! A salad can be composed of almost anything, with one very important rule.

Use the freshest ingredients possible!

For this particular salad I keep it pretty simple! Just the freshest baby romaine leaves, several diced avocados, a chopped red bell pepper,some diced pepper jack cheese,thinly sliced red onion,diced cherry tomatoes and lots of fresh pine nuts!

Did I say use the freshest ingredients possible?

Once you've put these ingredients into a lovely salad bowl ,you can make the vinaigrette.

I did remind you to use the freshest ingredients possible, didn't I?

Here is the dressing!

Juice of one clementine orange

Chopped rind of one clementine orange

One and a half tablespoons of freshly crushed garlic

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Half of a cup of good olive oil

One heaping tablespoon of FRESH salsa

Two tablespoons of sugar

Whisk together until smooth! That's it!

Drizzle the dressing over the salad in the bowl and gently toss the greens! Use less dressing than you think you need, each person can add more to taste!  For something a bit more filling, add some grilled flank steak or sliced chicken breast!

Picture of Clementines courtesy of http://www.cuesa.org