Welcome Fall With This Sweet & Savory Honey-Apple-Endive Salad
Jews love some edible symbolism! This recipe is not only the perfect fall and winter salad, but it can and should sneak onto your Passover and Rosh Hashana menus. A bed of chicories is topped with a sweet apple and honey dressing, candied walnuts, and blue cheese for a combo of tang, sweetness, funk, and bitterness that always has me coming back for seconds.
Obviously, the dressing plays into bringing a sweet New Year, but the holiday references do not stop there! The walnuts are candied in date syrup, which is a play on the typical Iraqi charoset served at Passover. Oh, and endive and radicchio 100% could count as chazeret (the second bitter herb on the Seder plate). What is Jewish food if not a jumping-off point for thoughtful and introspective conversation about our past, present, and future?
And if symbolism wasn't enough, this salad is a favorite of mine because it's so easy to prep in advance! Go ahead and candy your nuts whenever. Then, any time the day you're serving, lay out all the endive, radicchio, and parsley on a platter and cover with damp paper towels and plastic to hold in the fridge. Even the dressing can be made hours ahead, and that includes the apples, which can be added to prevent them from turning brown. And since this book is about noshing, this recipe pivots seamlessly into a finger food when you're in need of hors d'oeuvres. Just assemble the components in individual leaves of endive.
High Holiday Apple & Endive Salad
Serves 6 to 8
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
For the Candied Walnuts
- ½ cup walnuts, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon date syrup (silan) or honey
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- Pinch of ground cinnamon
- Pinch of smoked paprika
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the salad
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard
- 1 garlic clove, finely grated
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 Honeycrisp apples, cored and cut into ¼-inch pieces
- 12 ounces (3 medium heads) endive, ends trimmed and leaves separated
- 1 small head radicchio, halved and thinly sliced
- ¼ cup fresh parsley leaves
- 4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
Directions
- Make the candied walnuts: In a small saucepan, combine the walnuts, date syrup, olive oil, cinnamon, smoked paprika, and a heavy pinch each of salt and pepper over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the date syrup caramelizes and glazes the walnuts, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and let cool slightly.
- Assemble the salad: In a medium bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, honey, mustard, garlic, and 2 heavy pinches each of salt and pepper. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until incorporated. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Add the chopped apples and toss to coat.
- On a large platter, toss the endive leaves, radicchio, and parsley to mix and arrange in an even layer. Spoon the apple mixture over the salad and top with the crumbled blue cheese and candied walnuts, then serve.
From I COULD NOSH. Copyright © 2023 by Jake Cohen. Reprinted by permission of Harvest, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Jake Cohen is the New York Times bestselling author of Jew-ish, rising star in the food world, and, most importantly nice Jewish boy from New York. Jake and his recipes have been featured on Rachael Ray, The Drew Barrymore Show, Live with Kelly and Ryan, Good Morning America, and the Food Network and in the New York Times, Food & Wine, The Wall Street Journal, Bon Appetit, and Forbes, among others. When he’s not posting challah-braiding videos and recipes on his Instagram and TikTok (@jakecohen), he’s eating around New York City with his husband Alex.