Baby Arugula Salad with White Balsamic Pear Vinaigrette

Soft Heat, Sweetness, and Bite

There's a particular kind of salad that doesn't ask you to compromise — where the greens are bold enough to hold their ground, and the dressing carries something unexpected beneath its sweetness. Arugula has always been that way for me: peppery and honest, a little wild at the edges. A white balsamic vinaigrette built around ripe pear brings a gentle, luminous sweetness to meet it. The result is something quietly abundant — a bowl that feels as good to compose as it does to eat.

Ingredients

• 2/3 cups Alessi Pear Infused White Balsamic Vinegar
• 1/4 cups light corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons honey
• Alessi Sea Salt, to taste
• Cayenne pepper, to taste
• 2 ounces grape seed oil
• 4 cups tightly packed baby arugula
• 1/4 cups dried cranberries
• 1/4 cups dried apricots, sliced in half
• 1/2 cups Vigo Feta Cheese, crumbled
• 1 pint grape tomatoes
• 1 cup cucumber slices
• 1 cup candied walnuts

Instructions

1. Mix vinegar, corn syrup, honey, salt and pepper with a mixer. Add oil slowly until incorporated, then refrigerate.
2. In a large bowl, place the Arugula and 1/2 cup of vinaigrette. Add the rest of ingredients and toss well.