This is an apple and cheddar salad and I would humbly argue an excellent one, the best I’ve ever made, but this recipe is also an excuse for me to share a few of the best tricks I keep up my sleeve (I always wanted to be a cook who said things like that, when what you might actually find is a lost piece of popcorn) to make the kinds of complex salads I can never resist on a cafe menu at home as simply as possible. Because we deserve to have fancy, cool, crunchy, dynamic, and gorgeous salads at home, even if we do not live a life that allows us to afford fancy salads made by others on a regular basis.
The first element follows a basic salad math equation of crispy cheese > fresh cheese. Grated cheese melts in the oven into flakes of golden, lacy cheese crisps that are easier to make and better than most croutons by a mile. I said what I said.
The second element stems from my belief that a salad without a pickled element is a sad one. Soaking minced shallot (or onion) in the vinegar portion of your dressing until it lightly pickles while you make the rest of the salad is a most low-effort way to make this happen.
The final thing I absolutely love on a busy salad is some kind of candied, spicy, salty nut but I find almost every recipe for them to be too much work, or just too sticky. What I want is one that I could make a whole pan of (double the below for a whole pan) and store extras at room temperature, where they will stay crisp and not merge into one mega-cluster, to use as needed — on tomorrow’s salad, too, or a morning bowl of yogurt, or just snacks, so many snacks. I found the coolest trick buried ina restaurant recipe for their famous kale salad: rinsing (yes, rinsing) nuts and then tossing them with a little bit of powdered sugar, salt, and any spice you’d like (I’m using cayenne) bakes into crisp clusters. In the last year, I’ve used this innumerable times on almost every kind of nut and seed. Now, it’s your turn.
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Dressing1 small shallot, minced3 tablespoons (45 grams) apple cider vinegar1/2 teaspoon smooth dijon mustard1 tablespoon (15 grams) mayonnaise or Greek-style plain yogurt6 tablespoons (80 grams) olive oilSalt and freshly ground black pepperCrispy stuff1 cup (115 grams or 4 ounces) sharp cheddar, coarsely grated1 cup (85 grams) sliced almonds2 tablespoons (15 grams) powdered sugar1/4 teaspoon kosher salt1/4 teaspoon ground cayenneAssembly5 ounces (140 grams) kale leaves, any variety, cut into thin ribbons [see Note]1 large crisp apple, halved, cored, and cut thin
This will make almost double the crispy stuff you need for this salad, but I think you’ll be glad for leftovers. An an 8-10 ounce bundle of curly or lacinato/Tuscan/dinosaur kale with the woody stems and rib removed will yield the 5 ounces of leaves used here. I usually cut the apple right before serving, just in case it’s prone to browning (but not all are). The crispy nuts are adapted from the ones on the kale salad at Beauty & Essex in the Lower East Side.
