Apple Harvest Salad

This is the first in a series of recipe posts from my recent harvest-inspired cocktail party.

Endive leafs make the perfect little "boats" to serve the salad in. You can easily grab one without having to put down your cocktail.

Overall this salad was a big hit with party goers. The funny thing is - I was just winging it. I love it when a plan comes together.

Apple Harvest Salad

Ingredients

For the salad:

• 4 Belgian endive heads
• 4 medium-sized apples (MacIntosh preferred), diced
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup white cheddar, diced into cubes
• 3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

For the dressing:

• 1/3 cup cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
• Salt to taste

Directions

1. In a small bowl whisk together the cider vinegar, olive oil and maple syrup. Salt to your taste. Set aside.
2. Dice four medium sized apples into a large bowl.
3. Pour the lemon juice over the apple pieces and toss it all around. This will prevent the apples from browning.
4. Dice a block of white cheddar - enough for 1 cup. Add it to the apples.
5. Add 1 cup of chopped walnuts and toss it all together.
6. Pour on the dressing and mix to evenly coat all the ingredients.
7. Set the salad aside.
8. Slice the endive heads in half and trim off the ends by the core.
9. Very carefully pull off the individual endive leaves and lay them on a platter.
10. Into each endive leaf, spoon on about a tablespoon of the salad.
11. Then, serve 'em up.

Alternatives

• If you don't want to make endive "boats", this salad would be great on top of multi-grain toasts.

I am not exactly sure how much this recipe yields. Needless to say it makes quite a bit and the leftovers the next day were delicious too!