Fortunately, our friends were more than willing to share this gem of a recipe and gave us a copy from their Cook's Illustrated Cookbook.
It's an easy recipe to put together and has wonderful flavors. I love the apricot jam and fennel, I think these ingredients are less intuitively matched with the other flavors here, which is why this is somewhat of a show-stopper salad. The kind of salad someone will ask, "What is in this?!" And my mom did.
The dressing is key to the flavors of this salad. Combine the following:
- 4 teaspoons apricot jam
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small shallot, finely minced
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
The Dressing |
Next, chop the fennel fronds (leafy greens) to amount to about a 1/2 cup.
If you have a fennel bulb, dice it into small pieces and include them as well.
Add the fennel to the dressing 15-20 minutes before serving, you don't want it to wilt too much.
Finally, combine dressing and fennel with:
- 1 cup red seedless grapes, cut in half
- 1/2 cup toasted, chopped pecans
- 3/4 cup gorgonzola or blue cheese
- 8 cups arugula
Grapes, Dressing, Pecans, and Fennel from Mom's garden |
Toss and serve. You may not think it looks like much but your tastebuds will beg to differ...this salad possesses an elegance of simplicity.
No comments:
Post a Comment