Category General

Brighten Up Your Day with a Granny Smith Apple Salad from Parties That Cook

Has anyone else felt like it’s been a long week?  When you’ve drudged through the week and need a little pick me up, this little salad does the trick.  Try this Apple and Chive Salad with Manchego and Almonds Recipe for a reinvigorating breath of fresh air.  Crisp, tart slices of Granny Smith apples tickle your taste buds while shaved Manchego cheese provides that little bit of indulgence you need to help you make it through the end of the week.  It’s so easy to get busy and forget to eat right, but put down that bag of chips!  With just a few simple ingredients your body will thank you for the little boost of energy you can only get from fresh fruit and nuts.

Ingredients:

Almonds:
1 1/4 cups raw almonds with skins on
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Vinaigrette:
7 medium garlic cloves, peeled
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 Tablespoon chopped shallots
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Pinch of freshly ground pepper

Salad:
6 large Granny Smith apples, cored and sliced thinly using a mandolin or v-slicer
Juice from 1 lemon
2 Tablespoons chopped chives
6 ounces Manchego cheese, shaved

Methods/Steps:

Preheat oven to 325ºF.

Toast Almonds: Preheat oven to 325°F.  Toss almonds with olive oil, sugar and salt.  Transfer to a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden. Set aside.  Once cool, coarsely chop.

Make Vinaigrette: In a small saucepan, cook the garlic cloves in the olive oil over moderately high heat stirring frequently until lightly golden, about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Transfer the garlic and oil to a blender.  Add the vinegar and shallot, salt and pepper and blend until smooth.

Assemble Salad: Core the apples and cut into quarters. Using a mandolin or v-slicer, cut into thin slices and toss apples with lemon juice in a bowl. In a large bowl, toss the apples with the chives and vinaigrette.  Top with the almonds and Manchego cheese and serve.  Serves 8.

Recipe created by Parties That Cook® www.PartiesThatCook.com

Do You Know Where Your Food Comes From?

Where do you get your produce? Or rather, how far does it travel to get to you? Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is becoming more and more popular as consumers become more aware of these questions.  CSAs provide high quality, organic, locally farmed produce to consumers, support local farms, and reduce costs for both farmers and consumers by cutting out the middle man.

A friend in San Francisco raved about Farm Fresh To You (FFTY) and how they delivered a wonderful mix of seasonal fruits and vegetables to her door every week.  I instantly fell in love with the idea.  I had become busy with work and did not have enough time to go to the market.  At the same time, I had become more obsessed with food and wanted to work with what was in season.  But whenever I walked into a supermarket, I always ended up with the same veggies and fruits, and I stayed away from the organic produce because it was more expensive.  Once I signed up for FFTY, however, I’d get whatever was in season — all organic — and it became a great way to force myself to start working with more unfamiliar produce.  I still remember the day I pulled leeks out of the box and thought to myself — What am I supposed to do with these?

That’s why some CSA’s like FFTY make sure to include a weekly newsletter with recipes for some of the items in the delivered box.  Harvest Moon Farms, servicing Chicago, takes it one step further and provides not only recipes by a professional chef, but cocktail recipes and pairings as well as wine pairings by LUSH Wine and Spirits.

If you wanted to get even more local, Seattle MicroFarm brings the farm to your back yard.  They create, maintain, and cultivate a MicroFarm for you, visiting weekly to harvest your crops for you.

Whether it’s the convenience of delivery, fun cocktail pairings, or urban microfarming that ultimately draws you in, take comfort in knowing you are helping to create a sustainable food system that reduces carbon emissions from trucking and flying in food from large distances.