Endive Radish & Apple Bittersweet Salad

My sister is the queen of salads. I am not saying that because she makes a killer salad (although, she has gotten pretty good at it), I am saying that because she J'adores salad. Ever since she was tiny, salad has been one of her favorite foods (along with cupcakes and rainbow sherbert).

So, naturally, I presented her with this salad that I have been working on/pondering for a while.

The first thing she said was, "It's so pretty!" and then, "that is certainly not an Uncle I salad" (we have a joke within our family about 'Uncle I' salads. A couple years ago, Uncle I said he would bring a salad to our thanksgiving dinner. He showed up with one of those big bags of Costco lettuce, washed it, and put in a bowl. My sister was not impressed).

Anyways, she ate some (some, meaning, a lot) and was like, "OMG this is so good!" And that is why, this recipe is on the blog.

It was a challenging recipe to develop. I started out wanting mainly to come up with a recipe that uses these gorgeous fresh, bitter endives that Sunbow Produce (a local organic farm, that I J'adore) was offering.

Because they had such a strong bitter flavor, I was playing the balancing game, trying to find ways to get the full endive flavor, without being overwhelmed. So, this was the solution; balance the bitterness with sweetness, from the apple, the peppery-ness from the radish (which also provided some sweetness), the mellow and refreshing-ness from the cucumber, the saltiness of the vegan feta, the toasty-ness /sweetness from the almonds and the sour, tangy-ness from the red wine vinegar. In the end, it all works marvelously, I promise ;)

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Ingredients (serves 5)

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for the salad

half a pound of endive mix (combo of frisee and Batavian endives)

1 small cucumber, shaved into ribbons

8 small red radishes (or 5-6 bigger ones), thinly sliced

1/4 cup cubed apple

a handful of toasted chopped almonds

sprinkle of vegan feta

for the dressing

4 tsp apple juice

2 tsp water

2 tsp rice wine vinegar

2 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp mustard

1/4 tsp salt

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Instructions

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1. Slice or rip the endive mix into strips. Put them in a large bowl, then put a splash of olive oil on your hands and rub the endive mix with the olive oil (this helps with the bitterness and makes the endives more tender).

2. Top the base of endives with all the other salad ingredients in the order they are listed (to get that layered look).

3. Make the dressing by mixing together all the dressing ingredients. Serve (I always put the dressing on the side because some folks like more/less than others).

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dressing recipe from Taste of Home