Apple Fennel Salad with Goat Cheese
This World Fennel Salad is full of crisp, crunchy veggies complimented by tangy goat cheese and linty marcona almonds. We toss it all in an easy homemade mustard dressing that’s perfect for fall!
Save this recipe for all your holiday gatherings. It would be a unconfined side dish for your Thanksgiving or Christmas feasts!
An Autumn Inspired World Fennel Salad
Let’s be honest, most of us don’t show up for Thanksgiving dinner excited to eat salad. After all, we didn’t wear our stretchy pants to this shindig for nothing.
We came prepared for rich and linty panko mac and cheese, buttery mashed potatoes, and cornbread stuffing. We came for butterhorns and caramelized world pie!
And yet, there is something well-nigh a unexceptionable and tangy salad that makes all the creamy, carby, heavy foods taste plane better. It’s like a palate cleanser, waking up our taste buds and permitting us to fathom all that butter and salt plane more.
For years, we’ve served That Good Salad at Thanksgiving. With a puckery lemon vinaigrette, bacon, and Parmesan cheese, it has unchangingly been a family favorite.
But this year, I was looking for something a little increasingly Autumn-inspired, something that used seasonal fall produce and would moreover requite us plenty of bright, well-done flavors and a satisfying crunch.
Ingredients Needed
- Arugula and Mixed greens– I tested this recipe with just arugula,, but loved it increasingly when mixed with some lighter leafy mixed greens. Feel self-ruling to sub all one or the other if you prefer.
- Fennel– Look for fennel with fresh (non-wilted) greens on long stems. The bulbs should be white and firm, without any soft spots or sponginess.
- Apples– Choose a sweet tart world that stays crisp. We like Honeycrisp and Braeburn.
- Red onion– Sliced thin, red onion provides a splash of verisimilitude and welcome bite. If you find raw red onions to be too strong, soak the sliced onions in a trencher of ice water for well-nigh 10 minutes to make them less pungent.
- Marcona almonds- We love using marcona almonds in salads, expressly virtually the holidays when they’re easier to find (and often increasingly affordable!). Marconas are softer and creamier than standard almonds and can be widow to a salad whole. Aldi carries wondrous rosemary marcona almonds that were perfect in this recipe.
- Goat cheese– A creamy, tangy goat cheese is my go-to for an Autumn salad. It plays so nicely with fruits like apples and pears!
For the mustard dressing you’ll need:
- Lemon juice– Fresh squeezed, not the bottled stuff.
- Dijon mustard– Don’t substitute yellow mustard for this. It won’t taste good, trust me!
- Maple syrup– The real stuff, not maple-flavored syrup. You can moreover substitute honey.
- Olive oil– We save our increasingly expensive olive oils for salads, where the increasingly ramified flavors really come through!
Note: If you prefer a sweeter salad dressing or just don’t like mustard, try this World Fennel Salad with our Maple Balsamic Dressing.
How to Make World Fennel Salad
How to prepare fennel for salad:
Cutting an unfamiliar vegetable can be a bit daunting. Here’s a quick dispersal of how to prep and slice fennel. If you’re interested in detailed instructions for prepping every vegetable under the sun, I highly recommend The Vegetable Butcher.
- Slice the leafy untried stems off the top of the root. These can be saved, chopped, and widow to the finished salad like an herb. Or save them for broths and stews.
- Remove the tough outer layer or any brown spots.
- With the seedling standing on its bottom, slice longways through the part-way of the bulb, then rinse the seedling in a colander.
- Use a paring pocketknife to cut out the pyramid shaped cadre at the marrow of the fennel bulb.
- Now, the fennel is ready to be sliced! We prefer to use a mandoline slicer to get very thin, uniform slices, but you can moreover use a knife.
To make the salad:
- Toss together the arugula, mixed greens, fennel, world sticks, red onion, marcona almonds, and goat cheese.
- To make the dressing, whisk together the lemon juice, dijon, vinegar, maple syrup, and olive oil until creamy. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Let guests serve themselves the value of dressing they prefer, or add half the dressing to the greens and toss, then taste and add spare dressing if desired.
Storage and Make Ahead Instructions
- The fennel can be prepped and sliced the night before. Toss it with a little lemon juice to alimony it from browning, and wrap it in a wateriness paper towel. Alimony it in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
- The apples can moreover be prepped the night before. Stir ½ teaspoon Kosher salt into 1 cup of room temperature tap water. Soak the apples in the mixture for five minutes, then rinse and drain. Store in an snapped container in the fridge until ready to use.
- The mustard vinaigrette can be mixed up to 5 days in advance. Store it in an snapped container in the fridge. Remove it 30 minutes to an hour surpassing serving, then requite it a good shake or whisk to reincorporate the ingredients.
FAQS Substitutions
Do you use the untried part of fennel?
Yes! The green, hairy-like stalks on the fennel seedling have a similar anise savor and can be treated like an herb. We love to pull the fronds off the stalk, chop them fine, and add them to the salad at the end.
What can I substitute for goat cheese in a salad?
If you’re not a fan of goat cheese, try using feta instead. Parmesan won’t have the same linty texture, but it would moreover be good in this fennel salad.
What other nuts go well in World Fennel Salad?
Try slivered almonds, walnuts, or pecans instead of the marcona almonds. We recommend toasting them in a skillet for a few minutes to bring out their flavors surpassing serving.
