This arugula salad is one of my favorites. It’s so simple yet beautiful at the same time. The combination of the peppery arugula, gorgonzola and toasted pecans with the sweet poppy dressing is so good.

This dressing is one that I’ve developed over the years and use in many of other salads as well. It goes great with the strawberry spinach salad that everyone makes. It’s even good over iceberg lettuce. Keep it on hand for parties, it’s always a hit.

I would say this salad appeals to mostly women. The guys get freaked out by arugula for some reason. I’ve recently gotten my husband into arugula but he won’t touch the blue cheese or pecans. At any rate, kick your feet up and treat yourself to this “restaurant quality” style salad and Enjoy!

Arugula Salad with Gorgonzola, Toasted Pecans and Raspberry Poppyseed Dressing

8 heaping cups fresh baby arugula leaves

Dressing (enough for about 4 dinner salads)
2 Tablespoons Raspberry Balsamic Vinegar or just Raspberry Vinegar
¼ Cup sugar
Pinch of salt
½ Cup Canola Oil
1 Tablespoon poppyseeds

1/4 Cup crumbled gorgonzola (add more if you are a blue cheese fan)
1 Cup toasted pecans (baked at 350 for 10-15 minutes until fragrant)

1. Place arugula leaves into a large mixing bowl. Place raspberry vinegar, sugar and salt into a blender and blend for 15 seconds. With blender running on low, slowly drizzle canola oil in until emulsified. Pour into serving bowl and stir in poppyseeds.

2. Drizzle dressing slowly over arugula leaves while gently tossing to coat. Place onto 4 serving dishes. Top each salad with gorgonzola and toasted pecans.

Buttermilk Goat Cheese Drop Biscuits
Did anyone catch Oprah last week when she had her former personal chef, Art Smith, on her show? I happened to have the tv on that day and was so excited because he was giving out some of his restaurant’s recipes. He left Oprah to open his own restaurant in Chicago named Table Fifty-two. Apparently it’s booked out for weeks in advance, I’d love to try it.

When his guests sit down at their tables the servers bring out these beautiful Buttermilk Goat Cheese Drop Biscuits. I hurried to my computer and printed off the recipe. I’m not even a biscuit fan, but these are incredible. They are soft, flaky and tasty with Parmesan Cheese sprinkled on top right after they come out of the oven. I love that they are cooked in a cast iron skillet too. It took a whole 20 minutes from start to finish to make these. See the link below for the recipe.

Click HERE for these Buttermilk Goat Cheese Biscuits on Oprah’s Website.