Gorgonzola, Almond and Cranberry Field Green Salad

Last updated on May 25, 2021 by Liza Hawkins

This simple field green salad, dressed with a dijon balsamic and loaded with creamy gorgonzola bleu cheese, tart cranberries and crunchy sliced almonds, makes for a perfect side salad or main course meal!

A few years ago we went to Dewey Beach in Delaware for vacation.

One night we had dinner at Claws Seafood House along the boardwalk.

Soft shell crabs, stuffed flounder, surf-and-turf … it was all good, but not excellent. Worth the visit, nevertheless.

(We East Coasters are picky about our seafood.)

That said, before any of the entrees were served, at the very last minute when the server was just finishing up taking our order, my husband decided to order their house salad.

Seems fairly benign, a house salad, right?

Best. House. Salad. EVER.

Definitely the star of the evening meal, by far.

And, there wasn’t anything particularly special about it: field greens, almonds, dried cranberries, bleu cheese, a light dijon balsamic dressing.

However, at that moment, it was the most perfect thing we could have been eating (and all four of us did end up sharing it).

I had to recreate this salad at home, which meant an excuse to visit Wegmans’ cheese section to pick out, as Ina Garten would say, “Good bleu cheese.”

Well worth it, friends!

Get the recipes for the seared almond chicken and whipped mashed potatoes pictured with the Gorgonzola, almond and cranberry field green salad.

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Yield: 4 side salads

Gorgonzola, Almond and Cranberry Field Green Salad

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

This gorgonzola, almond and cranberry field green salad is the perfect side or main dish.

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Ingredients

• 1 bag mixed field greens (or fresh if you can find some at the farmers’ market!)
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup crumbled “good” mild bleu cheese, like gorgonzola

For the dressing:

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard

Instructions

Gently toss the field greens, almonds, cranberries and gorgonzola cheese in a large bowl.

In a small container with a tight-fitting lid, combine the balsamic vinaigrette and the dijon mustard. Shake the container vigorously for 30 seconds to make sure the mustard fully incorporates with the vinaigrette.

Add 2 tablespoons of the dressing to the salad, toss and then continue to add dressing, a tablespoon at a time, until it’s the way you like.

Be careful not to overuse the dressing; you don’t want the salad to be soupy – and you can save any extra in the fridge to use another time!

Notes

The best type of bleu cheese in this recipe is creamy, mild bleu cheese. I said to "crumble" the bleu cheese, but it was really too creamy to crumble. (Yum!) Instead I pulled pieces off the Gorgonzola wedge for the salad. Each gooey piece was about the size of a dime.