Apple & Fennel Salad with Hazelnuts & Shaved Parmesan

This salad is light and crisp, yet full of flavor! It is refreshing and summery and a bit fancy, too. It was really easy to throw together and everyone loved it (however, I did leave the olives off my olive-hating husband's salad and put all of his on top of mine because they might be my favorite part). I think this will be one of my go-to salads this summer. I hope you like it, too! 

Ingredients: 

1 head of Bibb or Little Gem lettuce, rinsed, patted dry and chopped

1 Honeycrisp or Granny Smith apple, sliced as thin as you can

1 fennel bulb, sliced very thin

Craisins

Green olives, pitted and chopped

shaved Parmesan (or vegan Parmesan) 

hazelnuts, chopped and toasted

 Dijon Dressing:

1 clove garlic, peeled and grated on a microplane

1 lemon, zest and juice (about 2 Tbl juice)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 heaping Tbl honey

1 tsp Dijon mustard

salt and pepper

To make dressing:

Use a microplane to zest the lemon and then grate the garlic clove on the same microplane. Add both to a jar with a firm fitting lid. Add the lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, honey, Dijon mustard, and salt and pepper. Shake vigorously until thoroughly combined. Set aside. 

To assemble the salad:

I like to toast the hazelnuts for this salad. I do this very quickly on the stove top. Heat a small pan over low heat, add the chopped hazelnuts and toast for about 3-5 minutes. Don't leave the hazelnuts because they will burn the second you walk away!  Stir them every minute or so to make sure they toast evenly. Once they are ready, remove from heat and set aside. 

I like to make each salad separately instead of making it all in one bowl. I find it to be easier this way and then I can exclude ingredients some people do not care for (like my husband who LOATHS olives of any kind and my daughter who does NOT enjoy Craisins).  Divide rinsed and dried lettuce between your salad bowls. Then add the thinly sliced apples, fennel and crainsins to each bowl. Top with green olives, shaved Parmesan and toasted hazelnuts. Drizzle each salad with the Dijon dressing. Enjoy! 

Hummus Salad Dressing - Two Ingredients

I have a little "Chefie Tip" for you today. It's my very VERY easy hummus dressing. Not only is this incredibly simple to put together, but it just tastes amazing and I crave it over regular salad dressing 9 out of 10 times.  I was telling my friend about this little trick - and that I thought it was maybe too simple to blog....but she assured me it sounded fantastic (it is!) and encouraged me to blog it. So thanks, Leslie! You can use homemade hummus, of course....but I ALWAYS have store bought hummus in my fridge (ALWAYS!) and I want you to see how truly easy this is. Here is the recipe for hummus salad dressing. 

Ingredients (this is enough for one salad):

2 or 3 Tbl store bought hummus <my favorite is The Perfect Daughter Original Hummus; my family also really likes Ithaca Hummus>

2 Tbl water

That's it for ingredients. That is truly it. Store bought hummus and water. You're welcome. 

Directions:

Put hummus in a dish along with a couple of tablespoons of water. Mix until desired consistency. If you want it smoother/runnier add a little bit more water. If it's too runny, add a bit more hummus. There is no rhyme or reason to this - I just eyeball it until it's about right. Drizzle over salad and enjoy!