Made this last week while Bill was home. Made a TON of salad and tasted fantastic!

Chopped Apple Salad with Toasted Walnuts, Blue Cheese and Pomegranate Vinaigrette

Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay, 2007

Prep Time:

15 min

Inactive Prep Time:

hr min

Cook Time:

hr min

Level:

Easy

Serves:

8 servings

Ingredients

Pomegranate Vinaigrette:

• 1/4 cup pomegranate molasses
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 heaping tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon honey, or more to taste
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Salad:

• 6 apples (Granny Smith, Gala, Fuji) any or a combination of all, skin left on, core removed and cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 2 heads endive, thinly sliced
• 1 cup toasted coarsely chopped walnuts
• 3/4 pound blue cheese, crumbled (recommended: Maytag, Danish, Cabrales)
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

For the vinaigrette:

Directions

Whisk together the pomegranate molasses, vinegar, mustard, honey and salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until emulsified.

For the salad:

Combine the apples, spinach, endive, walnuts and blue cheese in a large bowl. Add the vinaigrette and toss to coat, season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Pomegranate molasses: who can find this in Panama City, Florida, I ask you? So I subbed per a review of this recipe:

"I used 1/4 cup of regular molasses and 1/4 pomegranate juice for the pomegranate molasses and that worked great for me."


revised 5/7/09--

***** FOR THE BAND BANQUET--I added grilled chicken, cherry tomatoes, red onion, mushrooms, and dried cherries. I also subbed gorgonzola cheese for the Bleu cheese. It was outstanding!