Endive Salad with Winter Fruit, Jicama, Wild Rice, Blue Cheese, and Pecans
4 servings
Adapted from The Heart of the Plate: Vegetarian Recipes for a New Generation
Serve this crunchy winter salad as a starter, a between-course palate refresher, or even a final course. It also makes a good lunch entrée paired with just about any soup.
• At least an hour ahead of time, combine 1/4 cup wild rice and 2 cups water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered (adding more water, if and as needed) for 45 - 50 minutes, or until tender. Drain thoroughly, then measure out what you need for this salad. The rest can be tossed into another rice dish.
• Use any blue cheese you like.
• Vegans can leave out the cheese and substitute any favorite vinaigrette for the dressing.
Blue Cheese-Yogurt Dressing
¼ cup plain, regular yogurt
1 heaping tablespoon finely minced shallot
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons apple juice
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon pure maple syrup
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese (possibly more, to taste)
Black pepper
Salad
1 small head green leaf lettuce, cleaned and spun dry
3/4 pouund Belgian endives
½ medium jicama (about ¾ pound, peeled and cut into matchsticks or any shape bite-sized pieces)
1 small, firm Fuyu persimmon or red apple, thinly sliced
Seeds from a medium-sized pomegranate
1/2 cup cooked wild rice
Black pepper
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans, lightly toasted
Up to 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese (optional)
- Combine the yogurt shallot, salt, apple juice, vinegar, and maple syrup in a small jar with a tight fitting lid – or a medium-small bowl. Whisk until thoroughly blended.
- Keep whisking as you drizzle in the olive oil.
- Stir in the bleu cheese, then taste the dressing. Add more cheese, if you like.
- Cover tightly, and refrigerate until use. Shake or stir from the bottom before using.
- Shortly before serving, tear the lettuce into a medium-large bowl, then chop and add the endive. Add the jicama, fruit, and rice, and toss to combine.
- Keep tossing as you add the dressing (stirred from the bottom, to reincorporate) until everything is coated. You might or might not end up using all the dressing. (If not, it will keep well and can be saved for another salad.)
- Grind in some black pepper toward the end of the tossing, and serve topped with pecans and possibly also some extra blue cheese.
