If you are a salad lover, you will adore this caramelized almond, apple, dried cranberry and feta salad; if you usually detest salads, get ready to be converted—this is one you’ll be happy to eat.
Mr. Italicano’s request last night for dinner was to eat light :: leggero. I agree. Over the weekend alone we had two pizza nights (hard to refrain when we’re talking about thin crust wood oven pizzas, no?) as well as countless cones of gelato andice cream (my ultimate addiction). Monday was the start of a new week and thusly a start of 5 days of mindful, healthy eating.
Healthy eating shouldn’t be boring or bland; otherwise, you’ll be quick to reach for a comfort food loaded with unneeded calories. Make a caramelized nut, fruit and cheese salad your secret weapon :: arma segreta to getting yourself to eat more salads. The flavor combinations are endless; how about a fig, pear, gorgonzola and walnut salad with a poppy seed vinaigrette or a salad with strawberries, quinoa and caramelized walnuts? If you want to make the salad even healthier, you can just skip the sugar and toast the nuts.
My mom is the queen :: regina of caramelized nut salads with delicious vinaigrette dressings. Growing up I lived close to a lake, and each summer when we would head down to go boating, our family friends who would meet us would always request her Walla Walla sweet onion salad with mandarin oranges and caramelized almond slivers. It was a salad that never got old.
This caramelized almond, apple, dried cranberry and feta salad is another one of my mom’s salads that I make here in Italy and is often requested by family or friends. It has turned into my go-to salad for dinner parties with new guests. I remember last summer we hosted a bbq for Mr. Italicano’s colleagues :: colleghi and this salad was the talk of the table, not the veggie burgers that I had prepared with 10+ gourmet toppings. No, the star of the night was this salad which is not only simple to make but is a sure bet to impress guests.
Caramelized Almond, Apple, Dried Cranberry And Feta Salad
If you are a salad lover, you will adore this caramelized almond, apple, dried cranberry and feta salad; if you usually detest salads, get ready to be converted—this is one you’ll be happy to eat.
Serves: 2
Ingredients
For the caramelized almonds:
¼ cup (37g) whole almonds
½ tablespoon granulated sugar
For the salad:
4 ounces (100g) mixed greens
½ golden apple, chopped
¼ cup (40g) dried cranberries
¼ cup (35g) feta, crumbled
For the dressing:
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 orange wedge, juiced
Instructions
For the caramelized almonds:
Add the almonds and sugar to a skillet and heat over medium heat while stirring continuously, about 3-5 minutes. When the sugar has melted and has coated the almonds, remove from heat and spread in a single layer onto a piece of wax paper to cool.
For the salad:
In the meantime prepare divide the mixed greens, apple pieces, dried cranberries, feta and caramelized almonds among two bowls.
For the dressing:
In a small bowl, add the ingredients in the order given, stir well then divide the mixture between the two bowls. Grab a fork and dive in!
Salads don’t have to be boring. In fact, they shouldn’t be; otherwise you’ll be quick to skip them all together and find yourself with a hamburger in one hand, fries in the other and a pop wedged between your thighs. This salad is anything but bland. The plump :: paffute, juicy strawberries combined with quinoa, caramelized walnuts and feta are little flavor explosions in your mouth, ok, not Pop-Rock style (remember those?), but definitely some taste bud dancing is going on. Which is why I decided this recipe would be perfect for my “girl’s night in” dinner I was hosting.
I adapted this from Lindsey’s recipe at Pinch of Yum. She’s been my food blog guru since I started blogging 2 months ago. Her book “Tasty Food Photography”, filled with how to’s and Photoshop tutorials, is essential for any beginner blogger. Her husband Bjork even writes up detailed posts on how they earn money :: soldi from blogging (a question that everyone asks me.) Hands down good people that produce awesome recipes/content, volunteer/donate to worthy causes and are such an inspiration on finding the right kind of balance between work/life and receiving/giving. Major kudos.
Lindsey’s recipe included pomegranate, baby kale, wild rice, salad, walnuts and feta. Unfortunately, I coudn’t find some of these ingredients so I made some adaptations. Pomegranates are out of season so I substituted with strawberries; I couldn’t find baby kale at the market so I opted for salad; was too lazy :: pigra to go to the store for the 3rd time in a day so I used quinoa instead of wild rice; I caramelized the walnuts and the feta, well, that remained the same.
As for the dressing :: condimento, using the same ingredients, I adapted it to my own taste and put the onion slices in a bowl to infuse instead of mincing—great for those who want a little tang but not too much.
The “girl’s night in” menu included:
Fava Bean and Avocado Dip with Tortilla Chips
Strawberry, Quinoa, Caramelized Walnut and Feta Salad
Double Baked Ricotta, Kale and Roasted Tomato Potatoes
Roasted Purple Carrots with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Sea Salt
Corn Cake
*Recipes to come!*
I adore dinner parties surrounded by friends around a table of good wholesome food :: cibo sano. Stories are shared, laughter is heard and memories are created. Simplicity at its best.
No TV, no internet, no Facebook during this dinner. Just good real life contact with friends, something that is getting to be rarer and rarer in our digital age :: epoca digitale.
Strawberry, Quinoa, Caramelized Walnut and Feta Salad
Put the walnuts in a skillet, add the sugar and cook over medium to medium-high heat for about 3 minutes stirring continuously. The sugar will melt and will turn brown caramel color. Remove from heat and spread out on a piece of wax paper for a few minutes to cool so the walnut pieces won’t stick together.
Divide the ingredients among 5 plates and top with the dressing before serving.
*To make this salad for 1 person use the following measurements: .7 ounces (25g) mixed green salad, ½ cup (75g) quinoa, ¾ cup (100g) quartered strawberries , 1.4 ounces (40g) feta and 6 walnut halves (15g) (caramelized with 1 teaspoon sugar).
For the dressing:
Combine the ingredients together in the order given and stir well. Use at room temperature or slightly chilled. Store left over dressing in the refrigerator.
The market was alive with commotion as the fruttivendoli :: fruit & vegetable vendors yelled out prices of their fresh produce. I took a paper ticket from the little red machine that orderly tamed the mobs of people that crowded around the plump artichokes, sun kissed oranges and leafy vegetables. As I waited for my number to be called out, my eyes roamed across the multitude of plastic containers piled high with bright colored fruits and vegetables stopping at last on a bunch of green grass.
“Che cos’è?” :: “What is it?” I asked an elderly woman standing next to me while pointing to the grassy vegetable.
“Agretti,” the woman replied. Also known in English as Salsola Soda or Opposite-Leaved Saltwort. (Agretti is pronounced as “Ah, gret, tee”)
The elderly woman continued to recount :: raccontare a simple recipe.
“First you chop of the roots, wash them well then boil them for about five to ten minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water to keep the Agretti green then mix with lemon juice and olive oil.”
“Sounds delicious,” I thought to myself. “I have to try it.”
When I returned home, my curiosity :: curiosità got the best of me and at 10:00a.m. I was already in the kitchen cooking up this new and intriguing vegetable.
While some women :: donne get their high off of buying the latest pair of Jimmy Choo shoes, for me, I indulge in exotic produce. Is that lame or cool? I’m really not sure…
Agretti is also known as barba di frate, which can be translated to monks beard in English. What a weird name :: nome. Although when picked, they do resemble a bushy beard and monks typically did have vegetable gardens so I can presume where the name derived from.
In less then 15 minutes the bright green dish was ready. Talk about a great side for entertaining guests. As you may have already noticed :: notato, I speak often about recipes for large groups. One of my favorite things to do is host fuss-free dinner parties with high quality food.
Agretti is great served on a small dish or under a bed of fish like in my Striped Red Mullet recipe to give a dash of elegance :: eleganza.
What does agretti taste like? Certainty not like grass :: erba. I would say it greatly resembles the sharpness of spinach and when mixed with lemon and extra virgin olive oil it is quite refreshing.
If you need help getting your kids :: bambini to eat their vegetables, just add a face to a fork and let them create different hairstyles.
You don’t have to tell them that agretti is a super healthy vegetable that is full of vitamin A, iron and calcium. Who would have thought that eating your vegetables could be so much fun :: divertente!
*If your kids are young, attach the face to the stem of the fork so there is no risk that they eat the paper.
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Bring a large pot of water to boil, add the course salt then the agretti. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until tender. Drain then combine with lemon juice and olive oil. Serve warm or cold.
