Greens with Fuyu persimmons, pomegranate, crisp garlic, and blue cheese dressing

I have been on a roll recently with posts on persimmons. Here is another one for the season.

I personally love blue cheese in all its varieties, from the strong and crumbly English Stilton to the beautifully balanced French Roquefort and, my favourite, the soft and almost sweet Italian Gorgonzola. The bacteria that causes the "blue" is penicillium, the same bacteria that is used for an antibiotic; however, the medication has the bacteria inactivated.

I mostly think of commercial blue cheese dressing as very unhealthy. Typically, the rich cheese is mixed with cream, oils, and emulsifiers to make a goopy dressing. This dressing is quite the opposite. It uses healthy yoghurt as the base and is the perfect consistency that you can make to your liking, with lots of subtle flavours. Here is one of the primary reasons I started making my own dressings so many years ago. This dressing is also great with spicy buffalo wings and as a vegetable crudités dip.

This is a super healthy salad with lots of flavor. The juicy persimmons are balanced by the greens, the pomegranate seeds add an additional pop of tart flavor, and the garlic scents the salad beautifully. The creamy blue cheese dressing pulls the salad together, luxurious and decadent. It coats the salad with the classic tart flavour and aroma. The combination of this salad is what makes it perfect and so, so good.

Some cookbooks make me happy when I cook from them. The flavours and dishes are amazing. I waited a long time before I decided to buy this book and then regretted that decision. This is a beautiful book, and this genius chef's recipes are unique in putting together flavours and dishes. All the recipes pop with flavours, beautifully laid out dishes, and excellent food. This restaurant is on my bucket list the next time I visit Venice, California.

For more delicious recipes from this cookbook, click here.

Ingredients:

For the dressing:

1/2cup yogurt whipped

4 oz blue cheese at room temperature

1 clove garlic, minced

1 shallot, minced

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Salt, to taste

1/ teaspoon pepper

For the salad:

3 cups lettuce, arugula or any greens, torn or sliced into strips

2 persimmons, quartered and cut into bite-sized pieces

1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

Garlic chips from 3 garlic

Salt and pepper, to taste

To make garlic chips:

3-4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon olive oil

For the dressing:

Mix all the ingredients working the mix with a fork to integrate the blue cheese into the dressing. You can pulse the dressing to make it smooth, but I never do that to keep the dressing slightly lumpy. Set aside in the fridge till needed.

To make garlic chips:

Heat the oil in a small container and fry the garlic until browned and crisp. Drain on a paper towel until needed.

To assemble the salad:

Toss the lettuce, persimmons, pomegranate seeds, garlic chips, salt and pepper well in a deep bowl. Drizzle with the dressing. Serve immediately.