This past Sunday was my oldest and dearest friend’s wedding, and I was lucky enough to be her maid of honor. After such a fun weekend celebrating with all of her friends and family, it was a bit difficult to come back to the real world today. I’m sure everyone knows what I mean – when you wake up on Monday morning (or in this case, Tuesday morning), wondering how on earth the weekend is over already. I should also mention that the wedding was in Wisconsin, land of the cheese curds. After eating a few too many curds on the drive back to Illinois, I’ve been craving a healthy meal to balance things out a bit. And since I was so worn out, I wanted to make a dinner that was simple yet comforting at the same time. This Spanish-inspired salad with manchego, dates and marcona almonds was the perfect solution.
When I’m creating a salad, I always try to include a variety of flavors and textures. With its salty manchego, sweet and chewy dates and crunchy almonds, this salad hits all the right notes. I topped it with a sherry-honey vinaigrette to add a bit more tangy flavor to the overall taste. The peppery arugula soaked in all of the flavors wonderfully.
If you haven’t had marcona almonds before, you are in for a treat. Hailing from Spain, marcona almonds are softer and plumper than the almonds you typically see in the states. They are widely available in grocery stores now – I purchased mine at Trader Joe’s. Paired with the Spanish manchego and dates (which I will always associate with Spain because of the ever-popular bacon-wrapped dates), this salad will make you realize that the Spaniards really know what they are doing when it comes to food.
I served this as a light dinner with some toasted country bread, but it could also be a starter or side. Enjoy!
- For the salad:
- About 5 cups arugula, washed and dried (about ⅔ of a standard-sized bag)
- ½ cup dates, pitted and chopped
- ⅓ cup marcona almonds
- ⅓ cup manchego pieces
- For the dressing:
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
- 2 teaspoons honey
- Pinch of pepper
- In a large bowl, assemble salad ingredients and toss gently.
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk dress ingredients together.
- Add dressing to salad and toss well. Serve immediately.
Note:
I used salted marcona almonds. If you use unsalted almonds, you might want to add a pinch of salt to the dressing.
I used medjool dates, but any dried date will be delicious.
Hi Julia! I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve never tried Manchego! How can that be? I love cheese, especially with dates, and arugula! I just recently tried Marcona almonds and they were quite memorable. I’ll keep an eye out for them! Looking forward to trying your recipe! Thank you, Julia!
Hi Traci! If you love cheese, I think it’s safe to say you’ll love manchego. It’s one of my all-time favorites! I hope you enjoy the recipe!
I’m not a huge fan of eating dates from a pack but cut up like this and put into a salad with the manchego sounds like a great idea to mix up the flavor a little. Thanks for sharing, I’ll give this a go.
I hope you enjoy the recipe, Yvonne! Thanks for visiting.
Love this combination! Dried fruit, cheese and nuts are a winning formula every time 🙂
You are so right, Emma! It’s hard to beat a dried fruit, cheese and nut combo in a salad. I hope you enjoy this combination!
Julia, what a treat!!!
Now I am really READY to take the plane to Spain this afternoon….
Delicious!!
Thank you Silvia 🙂 When you get back from Spain, you will have to tell me about all the delicious food you ate! I’m always looking for recipe inspiration!
This could easily turn out to be my second favorite recipe ever using dates. While it can’t bump Sticky Toffee Pudding off the top of my list, it sounds like a great pairing with the manchego and marcona almonds. Plus, if you have enough of the manchego left over, it’s one of the best treats ever with a nice Rioja.
I’m quite flattered that this salad is up there with the ranks of sticky toffee pudding! Mmm, maybe I’ll make that with all my leftover dates…
Good thing I saw this very tempting recipe in time to change my shopping list. Instead of our apple, gorgonzola, and walnut salad, tonight it’s going to be dates, Manchego, and almonds. I can’t wait to try it!
I hope you liked it! Apple, gorgonzola and walnut is a great combination, but it’s nice to change things up in a while. You can’t go wrong when manchego is involved!
It was delicious! So glad you posted this, as I would not have tried manchego and dates in a salad otherwise. And red wine vinegar was also quite good in the dressing (Jewel had no sherry vinegar so I had to substitute).
Cheese, fruits and nuts are so perfect – adding them to a salad just makes them all better. I haven’t tried dates in a salad but will now – this looks great! Thanks for a lovely recipe!
Thanks, Geraldine! I agree – you really can’t go wrong with cheese, fruits and nuts in a salad. I hope you like this combination!
Oh my goodness, this salad looks amazing. There seems to be the perfect contrast between the sweet dates, bitter greens, and crunchy nutty almonds. Love!!