Apple and Cheddar Salad : IHCC

"Loving The Leaf", the theme for this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC) where we are currently cooking from Yotam Ottolenghi's recipes until September 2013. So for this week, it is all about leaves! We love leaves in our house, especially fresh crunchy green leaves for salad, my kids' favorite. 

This salad turns out rather differently from the original. If you click on the link here, you would find the photo of an entirely different salad altogether. Well, mine is not exactly entirely different, just that some ingredients are omitted! The recipe calls for baby spinach leaves, chicory leaves and alfalfa sprouts. My trip to Tesco looking for these ingredients are rather disappointing, Firstly I could not find any baby spinach, and secondly, the alfalfa sprouts are turning yellow, and are selling at less than half the price! No, thank you! And no sight of any chicory leaves either! I was rushing for time and do not want to go to another supermarket searching for these ingredients, so I look for some other greens instead.

Found some lovely fresh Coral leaves, perfect for salad, so I bought those instead. Next ingredient is sunflower seeds, I grabbed one small pack of honey roasted sunflower seeds, which I knew would go great with this salad. 

Even without some of the ingredients, it turned out to be one lovely salad. I especially love the dressing. I have used extra-virgin olive oil since I do not have sunflower oil, and it works out great. And I have added in an extra teaspoon of honey and a little bit more of the cider vinegar. Love the crispy, juicy, sweet apples and the combination of cheddar cheese with crispy honey roasted sunflowers seeds along with the fresh green coral.

Here's my simplified version of Apple and Cheddar Salad!

Both my daughter and myself really enjoyed this plate of salad. We had a big plate each!
I would make this salad again, next time with the alfalfa sprouts and any other combination of greens.

Please do stop by I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC) to view what my friends have made for the theme of this week, "Loving The Leaf" , and if you are interested to join us, please find out more details from IHCC.

I'm sharing this with :
See Ya In The Gumbo hosted by Ms. enPlace
Souper Sundays hosted by Kahakai Kitchen


Apple and Cheddar Salad
(source from guardian.co.uk)
2 sharp, slightly sweet apples, thinly sliced
75 gm extra-mature cheddar, thinly sliced or roughly broken
100 gm baby spinach
1 chicory, leaves picked (about 100 gm)
50gm alfalfa sprouts
35 gm sunflower seeds, lightly toasted

For the dressing :
2-1/2 tbsps cider vinegar (I use 3 tbsps)
3/4 tsp wholegrain mustard
1 tsp honey (I use 2 tsp)
1/2 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
salt
4 tbsps good-quality sunflower oil, or a mixture of sunflower and walnut oil

Start with the dressing ; in a medium bowl, whisk together the vinegar, mustard, honey, garlic and an eighth of a teaspoon of salt. Whisking continuously, slowly pour in the oil until emulsified, then set aside.

Put all the salad ingredients in a bowl and, just before serving, pour over the dresssing and gently toss through. Season to taste and serve.