Step 1: Toasting the Walnuts
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To
start the salad, preheat the oven to 350° degrees Fahrenheit.
Place the walnuts onto an un-greased
tray and toast for 5 to 7 minutes until golden brown.
Once the walnuts are toasted set aside to cool completely.
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Step 2: Preparing the
Vinaigrette
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- 1 shallot
- 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp Kosher salt - can
substitute with 1/4 tsp table salt
- 1/8 tsp white pepper
- 1/4 tsp sugar
- 3 tbsp champagne vinegar -
can substitute with white wine vinegar
- 6 tbsp extra virgin olive
oil
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Next peel and roughly chop the shallots and place into a bowl.
Add the mustard and season with
the salt, white pepper, a pinch of sugar and the vinegar and
whisk everything together.
Then slowly whisk in the oil
until everything is incorporated.
Let the dressing sit for 5 to
10 minutes to allow the flavor from the shallots to come out.
Then strain out the shallots.
Set the dressing aside at
room temperature until ready to serve. |
Step 3: Finishing the Salad
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- 8 whole fresh dates
- 2 oz blue cheese (1/3 cup)
- 5 whole Belgian endives
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To
assemble the salad start by gathering your plates and
preparing all of the remaining ingredients.
Remove the seeds from the dates
and slice into quarters and crumble the blue cheese into small
pieces.
Next cut the ends off the
endive, and peel away the larger outer leaves for the salad.
The smaller inside leaves you can save for another salad.
Working in layers place 2
leaves onto a plate. Then place a few pieces of dates, walnut
and blue cheese inside each leaf. Drizzle a little bit of the
dressing over each leaf.
Then repeat with another
layer of 2 endive leaves, dates, walnuts and bluecheese.
Lastly drizzle over a bit
more of the dressing and finish with a little freshly cracked
pepper and serve. |
Notes
This salad is best prepared last
minute otherwise the endive will turn brown. When buying the dates
try to buy only fresh and also try and find dates that are not too
big. If you can only find larger dates you will just have to chop
them up a bit more.