Get creative and put those New Year’s Eve leftovers to use!

When cleaning out my fridge earlier today, I found a bottle of champagne-pear vinaigrette, that I have no memory of purchasing, let alone ever using in my cooking. It had clearly survived my last big clean-up, which took place right after the post-Sandy four-day power outage, but smelled more like it had been there since the blackout in 2003—so, needless to say, it had to go.

But why would you ever buy any kind of champagne vinaigrette, when it’s so easy to make your own? For any of you who happens to have one or two half empty bottles of leftover bubbly from yesterday’s festivities, here’s a yummy and healthy recipe to try!

Champagne-Pear-Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

Vinaigrette:

• 1/2 cup champagne
• 1 tbsp agave
• 1 minced shallot
• 1/2 ripe pear
• a pinch of salt
• a pinch of black pepper
• 1 tsp nutmeg or cinnamon
• 1/2 cup of truffle oil (or whatever oil you happen to have at home)

The rest:

• 1 large pear (this one should be slightly more tart)
• 1/4 cup of dry quinoa
• 1/2 red onion
• a handful of chopped walnuts
• a handful of raisins
• 1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes

How to whip it up:

1) Put all the ingredients for the vinaigrette in the blender and mix until smooth. I’m sure there’s a more sophisticated way of making vinaigrette at home, but this worked for me—just make sure to use a pear that’s nice and ripe and you won’t have a problem.

2) Cook the quinoa while chopping the onion, cherry tomatoes and the (other) pear.

3) Drain excess water from quinoa if necessary. Toss quinoa, nuts, raisins and veggies to combine. Drizzle vinaigrette over salad.

4) Enjoy! Don’t count calories. And if you have any more champagne left, drink it with your meal!

Happy New Year!

Malin Bergman is an ashtanga yogi, indie film and music aficionado, often-cheating vegan and failed ballerina, who sleeps like a starfish and refuses to accept that Pluto is no longer a planet. She loves green figs, anything crochet, horses, Coney Island, second-hand book stores and the guy who plays piano in Washington Square Park. She seldom leaves her house without giant shades, a mug of black coffee and her Chinese Crested darling dog, Angel. Connect with her on Twitter and/or New York City Snippets.

~

Ed: Bryonie Wise

Like elephant food on Facebook.