This salad works as a whole meal on warm days when you want something fresh and light; its also the perfect side to heavier mains like pork ribs, creamy pastas or a Sunday roast dinner. Its delicious when made completely vegetarian or you could add thinly sliced roast chicken for a carnivore version.
It’s a fairly simple recipe: chop/slice a few ingredients and then mix them all together in a large bowl. What will set it apart though, is slicing the different elements just right so that you have a good balance of different textures and flavors! Chunky pieces can be tedious to chew and certain ingredients, when sliced too thin (like cucumbers) lose their crunch. Herbs when not chopped fine, can be overpowering. So that’s my secret to making a great salad – put a little love into the knife work, and you will end up with one that tastes great in every single bite!
Apple, Celery & Walnut Salad
Equipment
- No special equipment needed!
Ingredients
Salad Ingredients:
- 2 cups torn Lettuce Leaves [torn into bite size pieces]
- 1 small Cucumber [peeled, slit in half, de-seeded and sliced into 1/4th inch thick pieces]
- 1 Red Apple [cored, quartered and sliced fine]
- 3 Spring Onions [sliced fine]
- 4 tsp chopped Celery [chopped very fine]
- 0.25 cup Mint Leaves [roughly chopped]
- 0.25 cup Walnuts [roughly chopped]
- 1 tsp Olive oil [for the veggies]
For the Dressing:
- 1 tsp Honey
- 1 tsp Mustard
- 1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar [substitute: regular white vinegar]
- 3 tsp Olive Oil
- Salt [to taste]
- Freshly Ground Pepper [to taste]
Instructions
- Chop/ slice the different ingredients as indicated in the instructions table
- Combine the lettuce1, cucumber, apple, celery, spring onions and mint in a large bowl and toss together (or just mix gently with a spatula). Drizzle a tsp of olive oil into the bowl and toss again. Coating the veggies with a little olive oil will stop them from releasing too much moisture, and prevent a soggy salad2. If you are making a carnivore version of this salad, now is this perfect time to add a third of a cup of thinly sliced roast chicken to the mix.
- To make the dressing: Combine the olive oil, mustard, apple cider vinegar and honey in a small bowl or jar, and whisk together until it emulsifies. Add salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste.
- To assemble the salad3, pour the dressing over the veggies and toss. Lastly, add the chopped walnuts and toss again. Retain a few of the chopped walnuts to garnish right at the end.
Recipe notes:
1Tearing vs. chopping the lettuce does make a difference. It prevents the lettuce pieces from turning brown around the edges. Basically, when you tear lettuce it breaks apart along its natural cell walls; cutting splits the lettuce in the middle of its cells, leaving it’s cells ruptured and susceptible to quicker browning.
2You can put the chopped veggies (coated with olive oil) away into the refrigerator at this point. Allow it to chill for an hour or longer, if you are serving it later on in the day.
3Add the dressing just before serving! If you let the salad sit in its dressing for too long, the salt from the dressing will draw out moisture from the veggies, ruining their crunch and leaving you with something soggy.
Here’s a quick play by play of making this salad:
Let me know in the comments below, if you’d like me to add a recipe on simple pan-roasted chicken. 🖖
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