This curly endive salad with fruits and nuts has its own story and now I’ll tell you about it. Meanwhile, know that while being on vacation in Italy, I found myself with 2 crates of fresh curly endive gifted to me, and I had to do something with it! Years ago, I collaborated with an international agricultural company in Emilia Romagna. They asked me to make two recipes with curly endive for their booklet, and here’s one of them…
The project was managed by Letizia, a pleasant girl who takes care of the Love my Salad project here in Italy. I met her many years ago in Bologna, and she gave me some crates of vegetables. The escaroles received (we ate escarole for days and days…) were of two varieties called Timehal and Avral.
I added this vegan salad to the side dishes, but more than a side dish… this is a meal! And not only that: if you want to put a beautiful plate at the center of the table from which everyone can serve themselves, colorful and light, even for the Christmas table, this escarole salad is truly perfect! And of course, this variety of escarole was delicious and just rightly bitter, but any type of curly escarole will work fine.
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cooking methods: Stove
- Cuisine: Healthy
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter
Ingredients
- 1 curly endive (frisée)
- 1 Gala apple (or another type of crisp and sweet apple)
- 1/2 pomegranate (*)
- 4 walnuts (shelled)
- 2 tbsps pine nuts (about 1 tablespoon)
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries (or raisins)
- 2 tsps extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsps balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsps water
- to taste salt
- Points per serving = 5 WW points
Steps
First, toast the pine nuts and walnut kernels in a pan for a couple of minutes, being careful not to burn them. Then leave them to cool on a small plate. Remove the hard parts of the escarole, wash all the leaves thoroughly, cutting the larger ones, and drain well.
Deseed the pomegranate, collecting any juice in a bowl. Wash the apple thoroughly (preferably organic) so you can leave the peel on, remove the core, and slice it thinly.
In a small glass, put a little salt, 2 teaspoons of oil, and the balsamic vinegar. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of water and mix well. Everything is ready to assemble the salad!
Place all the escarole in a large salad bowl in a radial pattern. Distribute the apple slices, pomegranate seeds with their juice, dried cranberries, walnuts, and pine nuts over the escarole, and finish by drizzling the oil and balsamic vinegar dressing.
Here is this beautiful curly endive salad with fruits and nuts: full of color and flavor. We liked it a lot, and I particularly enjoyed it because aside from being delicious, there’s a lot to chew on, so it takes a long time to finish it! It’s very filling, and I recommend it as a starter as well as a side dish. Make it and let me know if you liked it…
Enjoy your meal!
by Giovanna Buono
Tips
I suggest eating half a portion of this big salad as a starter so you’re already quite satisfied and avoid overeating with the rest of the dishes.
In fact, I would put it at the center of the table during the holidays; it seems perfect for Christmas, so everyone can take a little and snack on something low-calorie and satisfying!
(*) with the other half of the pomegranate you can prepare the Pomegranate, Ginger and Mint Detox Drink
