Chopped Salad With Apples, Walnuts and Bitter Lettuces Recipe (2024)

This is a great salad! Not sure what makes it different from other chopped salads in my recipe box, but this is the best. The dressing may be the key. I used Gorgonzola cheese. Great salad!
Throw in chick peas and voila - dinner!

This is a great salad to bring along to work. Put the dressing in the bottom of your container (tight lid is necessary). Put in the crisp things (apple, celery, cucumber, bell pepper) then the lettuces, top with cheese and nuts. Don't shake it up 'til it's time to eat lunch.

Use a heavy chef's knife or cleaver to finely chop the garlic; add some salt to the garlic, press the flat side of the knife against the garlic on the board. Using your other hand, press the knife and slide it over the garlic. Then chop it and press some more. This is more work than just buying a garlic press, but I promise you that it works. The salt softens the garlic to a paste. Good luck.

Made this for a dinner with friends and our guests would not leave until I forward the recipe to them. Good dinner party fare because the dressing plus the walnuts and cheese (I used a local blue) can be prepared ahead. Even the apples could be cut up and kept in acidulated water. Used about 2/3 radicchio and 1/3 endive. For herbs I used flat parsley and a bit of chives -- just emerging in the garden. Another plus for a dinner party, picnic or pot luck -- easy to serve and eat!

Use all olive or add grapeseed oil instead of walnut if you don't have it. I toast the walnuts with a little maple syrup in the oven, they play nicely against the radicchio. It's good even without any cheese, but try freshly made tempeh bacon bits for a change.

Thanks for adding this "note" function.
As a Korean living in a small village in Switzerland,
I have to substitute many ingredients, which will not be
useful /interesting for others.
Do you think you can make "comments" for public viewing
and "note" for myself ?

You'll never go wrong with walnuts, blue cheese and apples in a salad. This one does not disappoint.

A tasty combination. Arugula instead of lettuce, and raisins or dried cranberries also a possible addition.

I substituted perfectly ripe pears for the apples, with great results!

A great salad. The walnut oil is light and tasty!

I added avocado, delicious!

I've added some crisp romaine to the greens mix because not everyone likes bitter greens. I've also tried Buttercrunch lettuce too which is sturdy enough to hold its own with radicchio & endive.

This is one of my favorite salads. It has just the right amount of salty to sweet to bitter. My 13-year old son has to be told to leave some for the rest of the family - he will eat it in one minute flat!

Excellent. Served this as an appetizer prior to Thanksgiving dinner. To make it more "portable" for stand-up eating, I omitted the lettuce from the salad and spooned the apple mixture into whole leaves of Treviso radicchio (looks like large, red Belgian endive). I moistened the leaves with a little dressing beforehand. Very pretty presentation, and could be eaten out of hand, sort of.

My batch of this salad was not Thanksgiving-worthy. My grocery store didn't have radicchio or escarole, so I used only endive. The recipe needed the bite of radicchio or escarole. The recipe called for parsley or a mixture of parsley, chives and tarragon. My grocery store didn't have fresh tarragon, so I used parsley and chives. The recipe needed the flavor of tarragon (or another fresh herb). I have 7 cups of salad that I can redeem with a trip to a better grocery store.

Could you add a little rubbed sage to the dressing to enhance the sage flavor (if you want that)? Could Havarti or Gouda sub for the cheddar? What about blue cheese as a strong flavored substitute? Thanks!

Brought this to a family dinner 1 hour from home, adjusted for kids and travel time. To keep apples from browning, soak for 10 minutes in salt water—1tsp/cup water, rinse, drain and refrigerate in airtight bag. Used hardy greens-kale and romaine, cut and dressed kale ahead to soften, less mustard in dressing. Added halved green grapes and avocado cut with apples just before serving. Looked gorgeous, big hit!

Gasp! ...substitute almonds or pistachios or toasted pine nuts and leave out the walnut oil. I do realize I may be the only one in the world that dislikes walnuts and pecans, but can still make this salad delicious.

Prepared dressing as written and very nice. Used arugula and romaine. Added Gorgonzola, dried cranberries and toasted pecans. Chopped romaine doesn’t keep a nice visual, but still tasty. Mixed everything together, but next time may save cheese as a final topping to serve. Very nice flavor.

Great witThough the garlic.

I made this with a combo of radicchio and romaine for a dinner party and it was a huge hit!!

This salad is one of the best I have ever eaten. The kind of recipe that makes the NYT cooking subscription totally worth it.

Here's what to love about this salad: walnut oil + walnuts, 2 favorite vinegars, 3 favorite greens, apple, cheese (recommend Violife feta as a non dairy choice), and herbs (used parsley and thyme 'cause that's what I had, but wished for tarragon too). Intro mentions this recipe as a Thanksgiving side, but I'll make it year 'round if ingredients can be found.

Walnut oil adds great flavor but rarely shows up in salad dressing recipes. In my experience, the oil goes rancid fast at room temp but not if refrigerated. In my effort to balance its walnut flavor, I reduced the olive oil to 2T and found the dressing didn't suffer by the oil reduction. With no bitter lettuces on hand, I substituted a dark-green chiffonade of lacinato kale, which looked nice but lacked the forward flavor of mixed bitter lettuces.

Made mostly as written, with only the addition of half a chopped shallot to the dressing. I made it for Thanksgiving, but it is a perfect salad. I now want to eat it every day.

I just made this for the first time, followed the recipe exactly as written but added a little butter lettuce to the radicchio and endive to tame the bitterness and add a bit of color and it was a huge hit!

can be prepared ahead. Even the apples could be cut up and kept in acidulated water. The walnut oil is light and tasty!additions or substitutions:celery, cucumbers, avocadodried cranberries or raisinsButtercrunch or Romaine for those not liking bitter greensGorgonzolapears "perfectly ripe"grapeseed oil for walnut oilfreshly made tempeh bacon bits for a changeSherry BBq pork, and fresh corn with caramelized onions, and with celery and celery and Italian parsley

This is a perfect chopped salad. I used grapeseed oil in place of the walnut oil as that's what I had - delicious!

the dressing plus the walnuts and cheese can be prepared ahead. apples could be cut up and kept in acidulated water. Use about 2/3 radicchio and 1/3 endive. crisp romaine to the greens mix because not everyone likes bitter greens. I've also tried Buttercrunch lettuce too which is sturdy enough to hold its own with radicchio & endive.