Take a step away from Iceberg and Romaine and consider Endive for your next salad.
I’d bought a bit too much endive for a gathering, and so had several left sitting around the crisper making me think I really need to do something with them.
Enter Geoffrey Zakarian and his endive and blue cheese salad with soy and sherry vinaigrette.
Except…
Of course, I didn’t have the apples. Or the sherry vinegar. Or the red onion (they are not one of Rich’s favorites) – so I made a few…
Adjustments, let us call them; and, let me tell you, this is one. Fine. Salad. So, go ahead and make your own adjustments, but do try this salad.
INGREDIENTS
Salad:
•4 cups finely sliced endive
•1/2 cup sliced pear
•1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
•1/2 cup diced sweet onion
•1/4 cup sliced almond
•1/4 cup dried cherries
•Freshly chopped parsley
•Fresh lemon juice (for the pears)
Vinaigrette:
•1/4 cup rice vinegar
•1/4 cup Sherry Peppers Sauce (or, plain old sherry will work, too)
•2 tbsp lower sodium tamari
•2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
•1 tbsp Dijon mustard
•1/4 tsp dried shallot
•1 egg yolk
•1/2 cup olive oil
•1/2 cup canola oil
•Freshly cracked black pepper
•1/8 tsp seasoned salt
First things first; make the vinaigrette by adding the rice vinegar, Sherry Peppers Sauce, tamari, Worcestershire, mustard, shallot, and egg yolk in a blender.
Pulse to blend well then, with the blender running, slowly stream the oils into the blender through the hole in the lid.
Once the dressing has absorbed the oil and emulsified, give the vinaigrette a taste and add the seasoned salt and black pepper, if you think it needs it.
Transfer the vinaigrette to a jar and stash in the fridge until you’re ready to serve the salad.
To make the salad, toss the pear in lemon juice to keep it from turning brown.
Arrange the endive on a platter, then top with the pear, blue cheese, onion, almond, dried cherries, and parsley.
Drizzle with the vinaigrette and serve.
Note: because of the raw egg yolk in the vinaigrette, I am treating this as a one use salad dressing.