Apple Fennel Salad

Looking for an easy way to change things up with your salad for a meal or two?  Combining the varying flavors of sweet apples, tart vinegar, spicy arugula, and mildly licorice-like fennel, this is sure to appeal to more than a few of your taste buds when served along side just about any meal.

Gather Up:

• 5 cups spring or mixed greens (nearly a large salad bowl full)
• 1 cup arugula leaves – torn into ~1″ pieces
• 2 Gala apples – halved, cored, and sliced very thin (you can use any sweet apple variety you like)
• 1 fennel bulb – stalks removed, halved and sliced thinly
• 3/4 cup walnuts – coarsely chopped
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup fennel fronds – roughly chopped
• 1/2 large shallot – peeled and minced
• 1/4 cup apple juice (use fresh raw if you can find it)
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2-1/2 tbsp walnut oil (you can substitute EVOO)

Combine the greens, arugula, apple, and fennel in a very large bowl (we’ve got that 8-quart one out again).  You need room to toss everything without making a mess.  In a small prep bowl, whisk together the shallots, apple juice, vinegar, and walnut oil.  Drizzle this over the top of the ingredients in the large bowl, then toss everything to mix well (make sure all those thin slices of apple don’t stick together in clumps).

Transfer to a more reasonably sized serving bowl, then sprinkle the walnuts on top.  You can garnish with a little more fennel fronds if you like too.  Serve it up along side some pork chops and you’re in for a treat.  Dig in!