Apple Fennel Crunch Salad

This apple fennel salad is a refreshing and crunchy autumn-inspired dish. It is made with thinly sliced apples and fennel, paired with crisp celery, pops of sweetness from the pomegranate, peppery crisp greens, crunchy pecans and pumpkin seeds, loads of Parmesan cheese and a tangy slightly sweet dressing. This apple fennel crunch salad is so satisfying with the perfect harmony of flavors and textures.

Apple Fennel Salad Ingredients

• SALAD GREENS: You can literally use whatever salad greens you like - use Romaine lettuce, spring mix, red leaf lettuce, baby spinach or baby kale, arugula, radicchio or do a blend of a few.
• APPLES: I love using a sweet red apples variety like gala, red delicious, fuji or honey crisp but you can go tart too with some Granny Smith. Feel free to use any type of apples you like or have on hand. I like my apple thinly sliced but feel free to chop them into chunks – whatever your personal preference is
• FENNEL: Thinly shave or slice the fennel bulb with a sharp knife or a mandoline, removing any tough core pieces. Then marinate it in lemon juice with the apples and the shallots to help prevent them from browning. It is so crunchy like celery but with a mild licorice flavor. I did not use the fennel fronds in this recipe but you can garnish with them if you would like.
• SHALLOT: I think it’s a must to add to the salad but you can substitute with red onion.
• PECANS & PUMPKIN SEEDS: Pecans and Pumpkin seeds add the perfect crunch to the salad - but can be substituted with sunflower seeds, sliced almonds or walnuts. I like to use toasted pepitas or pumpkin seeds but that is optional. You can toast your pecans as well or even use candied pecans store-bought or homemade candied pecans
• POMEGRANATE ARILS: The pomegranate seeds / arils add a sweet pop of flavor to every bite of this salad. If you don’t have pomegranate, dried cranberries are always welcome in a fall salad but you can substitute with other dried fruit like dried cherries or even craisins or raisins.
• CELERY: Sliced celery adds a tasty crunch to each bite - if you are not a fan you can use cucumber instead.
• PARMESAN CHEESE: I like to finely grate ½ cup and toss with the salad - when it is finely grated it almost melts into it and then I like to shave some for topping the salad before serving. That is optional though. If you don’t have or don’t like parmesan cheese you can substitute with feta cheese, goat cheese, blue cheese or even cheddar cheese.
• ADD INS: Feel free to add extra vegetables like red bell pepper, cucumbers, sliced avocado or even broccoli. You can even add in some protein to the salad by adding some chickpeas, or leftover roasted or grilled chicken. You could also add in some bacon or candied bacon too.
• DRESSING / VINAIGRETTE: You will need extra virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar, fresh lemon juice, dijon mustard, maple syrup, minced garlic, thyme (I like to use fresh herbs but dried thyme will work too) and salt and pepper to taste. Of course you can swap out the cider vinegar for balsamic vinegar, the maple syrup for honey and dijon mustard for prepared mustard too - switch things up according to taste
  
  

How to Make This Delicious Crunchy Fennel Apple Salad:

1. Make Salad Dressing: Whisk all the Dressing ingredients together in a bowl or shake in a jar. We want to make the dressing first so it has time to chill and the flavors to marry
2. Prepare Apples, Fennel & Shallots: Toss the apple slices, fennel slices and sliced shallots with the lemon juice. This helps prevent the fennel and apples from browning and mellows out the flavour of the shallots.
3. Assemble Salad: Toss Salad ingredients together in a large bowl. Drizzle and toss salad with dressing if you are eating it right away or serve salad with dressing on the side.
   
   

Apple Fennel Salad Storage & Make Ahead

• STORAGE: Undressed salad can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple of days. Dressed salad should be eaten right away as the salad greens will get soggy.
• MAKE AHEAD: You can make the the dressing several days in advance and store it in the fridge in airtight container. Apple and fennel will not stay crunchy super long and may discolour so I would not slice and toss them with lemon juice ahead of time. The rest of the prep should be done prior to serving.
  
  

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