This Apple Endive Salad with Sugared Walnuts has delicious chunks of blue cheese in it too!
Apple Endive Salad with Sugared Walnuts
Let me describe this fabulous salad to you. Endive and apple are cut into slivers and combined with some delicious and easy-to-make sugared walnuts. Chunks of tangy blue cheese and fresh tarragon leaves are added in too. It’s all tossed in a simple vinaigrette. I love this salad!
Sugared nuts are a slight obsession for me. I adore my Triple Berry Salad with Sugared Almonds for this reason. And this Field Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette and Sugared Pecans is a good one too.
What is endive?
This Apple Endive Salad recipe calls for Belgian endive. Belgian endive are shaped like little torpedos, and they’re about 6-inches long. It has tender, white leaves with yellow-ish tips. The leaves are crunchy and slightly bitter. Sometimes people stuff endive leaves to make appetizers like this Endive with Shrimp Salad. It’s also great chopped and added to salads.
How to cut endive for salad:
For this salad, you’ll cut the endive leaves lengthwise into strips. You can chop them further if they don’t turn out to be bite-sized. The Granny Smith apples used for this recipe will also be cut (julienned) into strips. It makes for an interesting presentation for this Apple Endive Salad.
What’s the best kind of blue cheese to use for salad?
Nowadays, you can find blue cheese sold in packages of crumbles (just like crumbled feta). The blue cheese crumbles are fine to use, but if you really want good blue cheese then I suggest you head to the gourmet cheese department and look for a wedge. I like to break a wedge of blue cheese into chunks for this Apple Endive Salad. The flavor is so much better coming from a wedge that is freshly broken apart. If you really enjoy blue cheese, you might like to try my Blue Cheese Dip.
Where can you buy endive?
Locate Belgian endive in your market’s produce section. Sometimes it’s a little pricey, but you’ll only need two heads of endive for this Apple Endive Salad recipe.
This recipe serves six. It’s a nice salad to use as a starter for a dinner party. And it’s a good one for a holiday celebration too.
If you’re looking for more salads that use apples, here are a few more recipes to check out:
- Pear and Apple Salad with Gruyere and Toasted Pecans
- Asparagus Apple Salad with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette
- Balsamic Chicken Salad with Apples and White Cheddar
- Spinach and Quinoa Salad with Apple
- Autumn Apple and Spinach Salad
- Spiralized Butternut Squash and Apple Salad with Turkey
- Apple Bacon Salad
- Chicken Apple Crunch Salad
If you happen to be following the Weight Watchers WW plan, you’ll find a link to the WW Points on the recipe card below.
Apple- Endive Salad with Sugared Walnuts
Recipe Details
Ingredients
VINAIGRETTE:
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon granulated white sugar
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small shallot, minced
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
NUTS:
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 cup walnuts, chopped coarsely
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated white sugar
SALAD:
- 2 large Belgian endive
- 2 medium Granny Smith apples
- 1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon leaves
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
PREPARE VINAIGRETTE:
- In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegars, mustard and sugar. Add the oil in a stream, whisking, and whisk vinaigrette until emulsified. Stir in the shallot, salt and black pepper.
PREPARE NUTS:
- In a small saucepan, melt the butter over moderate heat and add the walnuts and sugar. Cook the walnuts, stirring, until golden, about 2 minutes, and transfer to a bowl.
PREPARE SALAD:
- Cut the endives lengthwise into julienne strips. Halve and core the apples and cut into julienne strips.
- In a large bowl, combine the endives, apples, walnuts, blue cheese, tarragon and vinaigrette, tossing gently, and season with salt and white pepper.
Notes
- I like to buy a wedge of blue cheese for this one and break it into chunks. It's so much more delicious than the package of blue cheese crumbles that you can buy in the store.
- If you're counting WW Points, be sure to use reduced fat blue cheese in this delicious salad!
Really wonderful recipe , salad was refreshing , light and crunchy . The sweetness and tartness of the Apple balanced the mild bitterness of the endive . I’m not a fan of blue cheese but the saltiness of the blue cheese added additional complexity . The vinaigrette was tart and acidic and complemented the salad. Would definitely make again.