So, have you sorted out what's on your Christmas menu yet?
If not, there are exactly one and a half shopping days left to go... which should give you just enough time to pick up the makings for this salad.
It's quick and easy (always a good thing if you're dashing around the kitchen preparing umpteen million other things), but special enough to get your guest oohing and aahing (something they certainly wouldn't do with a regular green salad). Sure, you might save a few extra minutes by cracking open a bag of mesclun greens and tossing with bottled dressing, but the payoff is totally worth it.
Besides, how can you pass up a salad that's in a holiday-appropriate palette of red, white and green?
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Holiday Endive-Cranberry Salad
3 Belgian endives, thinly sliced cross-wise
2 large Honeycrisp or Gala apples, cored and roughly chopped
½ cup chopped toasted walnuts
¼ cup dried cranberries
1 head green leaf lettuce
Maple-Mustard Dressing
2 tbsp walnut oil or mild-flavoured olive oil
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp old-fashioned coarse mustard
1 shallot, finely minced
Salt and pepper to taste
Combine endive, apple, walnuts and cranberries in a large bowl.
In a small bowl, whisk together walnut oil, cider vinegar, maple syrup, mustard and shallot until combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the apple mixture, and toss to coat.
To serve, arrange a bed of lettuce leaves on a large serving platter, and mound the apple mixture overtop. Or, if you'd prefer to plate up individual servings, arrange one or two lettuce leaves onto each salad plate, then top off with a generous mound of apple mixture.
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