Arugula salad with roasted walnuts

Yesterday,while cooking a new recipe of lasagna et lemon custard tart for the friends I invited to the traditionnal tuesday's Mardi Gras, I remembered all of a sudden that I hadn't prepared anything for the starter course. I wanted to come up with an appetizer that was easy to make, quick and...healthy.

While thinking about the great week end I had in Napa and how great the food was in the region, I remembered a salad that was listed on the menu: arugula salad with roasted walnuts, pear and gorgonzola.

Too bad I had no pears and no gorgonzola...but that didn't matter as it was time to create something new!!!

I started by roasting the walnuts in a filet of olive oil at medium heat. Then I incorporated two tablespoons approximately of raw brown sugar that I completely forgot I had in my kitchen. I then laid out the arugula on the plates, added the caramelized walnuts and shaved parmesan (that I buy from Trader Joes's).

For the sauce, I used my special ingredient: pomegranate balsamic vinegar, which I mixed with olive oil, pepper and salt.

The result was great and everyone wondered what was special about the salad. When I said that I had roasted the walnuts with sugar, my friends immediately thought that It had to be complicated...well in fact not at all! So give it a try if you don't have a lot of time or if your kitchen closet is not as garnished as usual.

Have a great day!