Description
This Arugula Salad has grapes, cashews, pickled red onions, and a simple black pepper vinaigrette. Vegan, vegetarian, gluten free.
Ingredients
For the Pickled Red Onions
- 3/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup champagne vinegar
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 red onions, very thinly sliced
For the Black Pepper Vinaigrette
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- 2/3 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 clove garlic
For the Salad
- 2 1/2 cups red California grapes, halved
- 2 cups cooked farro or a gluten free alternative like quinoa
- 3 cups arugula
- 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, cut into ribbons
- 1/2 cup chopped cashews
Instructions
- Pickled Red Onions: Place the vinegars, water, sugar, and salt in a jar with a tight fitting – shake lid until well combined. Add the sliced red onions. Refrigerate at least 24 hours or longer for best flavor.
- Dressing: Place the vinegar, olive oil, sugar, pepper, and salt in a jar. Crush the garlic clove and just drop it in the jar in one or two pieces – the idea is that you’ll still get some fresh garlic flavor infused into the dressing without the little pieces of raw garlic in the dressing when you serve it. 🙂 Shake to combine. You can make this ahead.
- Assembly: Toss the grapes and farro with about half of the dressing. Add the arugula, basil, cashews, and a handful (however much you want) of the pickled red onions. Toss to combine. Add additional dressing if it needs any more – for me, the original amount of dressing was just about right. Let the salad sit for just a few minutes to really get it nice and yummy, soaking in that dressing.
Notes
The amount of dressing is more than what you’ll need for 6 servings, but I always like to have extra homemade dressing on hand so I’m leaving these amounts as-is. Just keep the dressing for a few days and make the salad one more time! 🙂
For the nutrition I only counted half the dressing amount for 6 servings.
If making ahead, toss everything except the dressing, arugula, and basil. Those should be added right before serving.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 5 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: arugula salad, vegan salad, black pepper vinaigrette