Escarole salad with walnuts, dried cranberries and blue cheese

Escarole is a hearty green that pairs well with sharp cheeses, fruit and nuts.This is a loosey goosey recipe that allows substitutions of other nuts (almonds, pecans or pepitas) other sharp cheeses (parmesean for example) and different dried fruits (raisins, cherries, etc), pears are also delicious instead of apples.

• Walnuts, about 1/2 cup

• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

• blue cheese

• 1 crisp apple, chopped

• 1 head of escarole, dark green outer leaves removed, tips chopped off and discarded, remainder washed and chopped

Dressing ingredients

• clove of garlic or shallot roughly chopped

• salt and peppers

• glug of maple syrup

• 1/4 cup of olive oil

• glug of balsamic vinegar

• squirt of dijon mustard

Toast walnuts in a pan over low heat. Don’t let them burn and remove from heat when they start to brown. Chop walnuts. Assemble salad by topping washed and chopped ribs of escarole with dried fruit, chopped apple, walnuts, and crumble blue cheese.

Blend dressing ingredients with an immersion blender and adjust flavors to your liking and poor over salad and toss. Correct ingredients to your liking.