FARGO — This week’s Autumn Chopped Salad with Maple Cider Dressing is a veritable parade of fall colors and flavors. Crisp apples, pecans, dried cherries, bacon, red onion and white cheddar cheese are tossed with crunchy Romaine lettuce and a tangy Maple Cider Dressing to create a healthy, beautiful, delicious dish.
This is one of the best salads I have ever made.
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I love chopped salads because the components are similarly sized, thus ensuring that every forkful holds a bit of each flavor. When creating this recipe, I sought out seasonal ingredients that work well together, while also considering the overall texture of the salad. The words that popped into my mind were crisp, sweet, warm and tangy. This salad is all that, and more.
There are only eight components to this salad, including the dressing, and all but the apple can be prepared up to 24 hours before assembling the salad.
Romaine lettuce is ideal for chopped salads, as its leaves are sturdy enough to stay fresh and crisp, even when chopped. Pink Lady or Honeycrisp apples work well in this dish as they are crisp with a lovely, tart sweetness. Dried cherries and cheddar cheese pair beautifully with apples, and I love how the extra-sharp white cheddar works in this salad. If you cannot find dried cherries (I bought mine at Fleet Farm), you can use dried cranberries instead.
Pecans are a classic fall flavor, and they bring a terrific crunch to this salad. You can toast them until fragrant or just leave them plain.
To give the salad a touch of smoky warmth, I cook six strips of bacon until they are very crisp and then break them into bite-size pieces over the salad. I add a bit of finely chopped red onion to complement the bacon, which gives the salad a touch of spicy heat.
Salad dressings are one of my specialties, and the Maple Cider Dressing that accompanies this salad is sublime. Real maple syrup adds a lovely splash of sweetness and fall flavor, and a bit of mustard helps everything come together. Sweet and tangy, this cider vinegar-based dressing is about as easy as it gets, and there is no chopping required.
Simply place the ingredients in a jar, cover it with a lid, and shake vigorously; it is good to go. My recipe yields more dressing than you need for this salad, and the recipe can be halved if you prefer a single batch. The dressing can be refrigerated for up to two weeks and is versatile enough for almost any salad.
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For the sake of presentation, I assemble this salad in two stages to ensure that all the autumn ingredients are visible on top when I serve it, but you could skip this step without sacrificing any flavor.
This Autumn Chopped Salad with Maple Cider Dressing is a dazzling display of fall flavors and the perfect way to usher in the new season.
Autumn Chopped Salad with Maple Cider Dressing
Serves: 4 to 6
Salad ingredients:
- 2 heads Romaine lettuce, washed, dried and chopped into strips approx. half-inch wide
- 1 cup extra-sharp white cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 cup dried cherries or cranberries, roughly chopped
- 1 cup pecans, roughly chopped (toasted or plain)
- 1/3 cup red onion, small diced
- 1 Pink Lady or Honeycrisp apple, diced into half-inch pieces, skin on
- 6 strips bacon, cooked until crisp, crumbled into bits
- ½ cup Maple Cider Dressing, divided
Maple Cider Dressing (makes 1 cup):
- 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil or vegetable oil (I use a blend of both)
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (or ½ teaspoon ground mustard)
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Directions:
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To prepare the dressing, combine the ingredients in a medium-sized jar, cover it, and shake it well. Taste and adjust flavors as desired. Use immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
To assemble the salad: Place the chopped Romaine lettuce in a large bowl. Add ¼ cup of the dressing and half of each remaining salad component. Toss until well combined. Scatter the remaining components over the salad and drizzle with another ¼ cup of dressing.
Serve immediately and enjoy.
Leftovers can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
Advance preparation:
- This salad is excellent with pork, chicken and soup.
- The apples can be prepared up to 4 hours before assembling the salad. To prevent browning, toss them with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Store diced apples in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 hours.
- The dressing can be prepared in advance and refrigerated in an airtight container for 2 weeks.
- The lettuce, cheese, cherries, pecans, bacon and onion can be prepared 24 hours in advance and refrigerated before assembling the salad.
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