We eat lots of salad at our house and it’s easy to fall into a rut of the usual greens with vinaigrette, night after night. This week, I wanted to fix a slaw that included fruit, tossed together with a sweet-sour dressing.
Inspired by a recipe from Martha Stewart for an apple slaw with a caramelized cider vinegar dressing, I grabbed a couple of apples and whipped up a tangy vinaigrette. I added a handful of pomegranate seeds, known as “arils, so pretty and in season now, passing on the rum-soaked raisins that Martha’s recipe suggested. I wanted only light, bright flavors for my fruit slaw.
For my olive oil, I used a blood orange-infused olive oil that had been a gift from my friend, Marilyn. Playing with flavored olive oil has been a fun experiment, and the citrus note scented the dressing beautifully. Taste your vinaigrette before adding any salt and/or pepper. Mine was fine without any additional seasoning.
I found that there wasn’t enough dressing in MS recipe, which called for four apples, so I suggest you double the vinaigrette recipe if you are feeding a crowd. Two apples worked fine for me.
TIP: This time of year, you can find packaged pomegranate arils in the refrigerated area of your supermarket’s produce section. Breaking down a whole pomegranate can be pretty messy and leave you with fuschia-stained fingers.
- 3 tablespoons white sugar
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, divided use
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon orange zest
- kosher salt and ground black pepper (optional)
- 1 sweet apple, such as Gala, cored, thinly sliced and cut into matchsticks
- 1 tart apple, such as Granny Smith, cored, thinly sliced and cut into matchsticks
- ½ cup pomegranate arils
- Cook the sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has melted and turned a dark amber color, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add 2 tablespoons of the cider vinegar - carefully, because it will bubble violently - and stir over low heat until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to rest 5 minutes.
- Whisk in the olive oil and remaining tablespoon of cider vinegar. Add the orange zest and stir. Taste before adding optional salt and pepper.
- Toss the apples and arils with the vinaigrette in a non-reactive bowl. Cover and allow to rest for 1 hour on the fridge before serving.
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What a wonderfully refreshing salad! I think I would double the dressing anyway – it looks really, really good.
It was very refreshing, Susan – I liked the caramelized cider dressing with it.
So fresh and gorgeous! Years ago my Dad would sit at the table to peel and take apart the Pomegrantes in our house ๐ He was also in charge of cracking the nuts…sweet memories really. I am going to give this one a go Liz!
What a wonderful memory, Wendy –
How light and summery this salad is! I’m guilty of only making salads that contain greens, what a refreshing idea!
It’s so easy to make a green salad every day – my husband gets awfully tired of them – so I came up with this earlier in the week, Jayne.
This slaw looks great, Liz! So healthy and flavorful. I love easy recipes like these. Hope all is great with you!
Hi Kristy – any chance you are going to Techmunch next week? Hope our paths cross in 2014…
This looks great! So simple and fast. Drooling…bring some with you to Techmunch, eh? ๐
Ha – maybe to Camp Blogaway ๐
Love the colors and how refreshing and crunchy this sounds! So pretty, too!
Thanks, Carol, I love all your Farmers Market shots –
Love the dressing Liz – what a great idea. Will share with our Tasting Jerusalem community – it’s a great crossover recipe reminiscent of many different cuisines.
Thanks, Beth – hoping to see you either at TECHmunch or Camp Blogaway this year.
Liz, that is a lovely little plate! I don’t use pomegranates nearly as often as I’d like because of the mess (I deal with them on the patio outside the kitchen – while wearing something old!)
I love buying the arils in a little no-mess package, Jean.
Love the idea of breaking the green salad routine with this tasty fruit option.