Radicchio & Romaine Winter Salad with Walnut Vinaigrette

This dish is here to add in some greenery to your diet and is inspired by a salad we had at Meat & Cheese in Aspen this winter. It brings together so many different flavors and is full of delicious and colorful seasonal ingredients.

To start, the crunchy romaine and thinly shaved bitter radicchio make a hearty but crunchy base. Then, it’s all up from here - with buttery endive, roasted grapes, green apples, roasted celery root, toasted walnuts, brioche croutons, and a homemade walnut vinaigrette. Beyond good and made all that much better by using good quality olive oil like Brightland to top it all off. Hope this one makes it into your bellies and weekly rotation this season!

Ingredients

Serves 4

7-8 ounces of romaine lettuce (chopped into bit sized pieces)

1/2 small radicchio (very finely sliced; I used a mandolin on its smallest setting)

1 endive (very finely sliced; I used a mandolin on its smallest setting)

1/2 celery root (celeriac; thinly sliced)

1 cup red or purple grapes

1 green apple (sliced into slivers then tossed in lemon juice)

1/2 lemon

1/2 cup walnuts (chopped & toasted at 350 F for 10 minutes or until golden)

1-2 slices of brioche bread (cubed; over 1 day old is best!)

salt and pepper

olive oil

Walnut vinaigrette

1/2 cup walnuts (chopped & toasted at 350 F for 10 minutes or until golden)

1 garlic clove (minced)

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tbsp mustard seeds

1-2 tbsp honey

1/2 cup good quality olive oil (like Brightland !)

salt and pepper to taste

water if you want to thin it out

Additional items:

Baking sheet

Food processor

Bottle for dressing

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F. and toast walnuts for 10 minutes or until golden. Seperate into 1/2 cups (1/2 for vinaigrette; 1/2 for salad topping). Set aside to cool.

2. Toss the brioche cubes in a bit of olive oil and roast in the oven or toast on a skillet. Watch carefully as brioche has a tendency to burn. Set aside once it is golden brown and crunchy.

3. Blend all of the vinaigrette ingredients (except the olive oil) using a food processor until smooth. Then add in the olive oil until it is creamy. Drizzle in some water if it is too thick. Transfer to a clean bottle, then pour in any additional olive oil until it is the consistency you like. Shake well and allow to sit at room temperature.

4. Toss the grapes in olive oil, salt and pepper and roast for 15 minutes. You can also opt to not roast them. Roasting them will make them much sweeter so it is a personal preference.

5. Toss the celery root in olive oil and roast for 12-15 minutes or until softened.

6. Arrange the salad by tossing the romaine with the radicchio. Top with endive then with celery root, apple slices, grapes, walnuts and brioche croutons.

7. Drizzle some good quality olive oil and the walnut vinaigrette on top. Serve, making sure to get every ingredient in each bite!