Pear and Apple Salad for a crunchy start to Thanksgiving dinner.

Most Thanksgiving dinner menus start with some manner of pureed root vegetable soup. I love them, but find that they’re too heavy to eat before a classic turkey dinner with all the fixings. All the fixings in my house means mashed potatoes, squash, carrots, Harvard beets, Lady Ashburnham pickles, green tomato chow, gravy and cranberry sauce.There, also needs to be room for pumpkin pie with whipped cream! So, if you put on a big Thanksgiving spread skip the heart soup and try my Pear and Apple Salad with Maple Apple Vinaigrette. If you’ve got exceptional balance, serve the salad the way I shot these pictures. If you’d rather not worry about getting the plates to the tables without out the stack falling over, fan the pear and apples flat on the plate. It will still look pretty.

Pear and Apple Salad
Serves 4

• 4 small Rocha pears, sliced thin horizontally
• 2 small MacIntosh apples, sliced thin horizontally
• ½ head fennel, sliced thin horizontally
• 1 lemon

THE STEPS:

1. Fill a medium-sized bowl with cold water.
2. Squeeze the juice from the lemon into the water; don’t worry about the seeds.
3. Place the sliced pear, apple and fennel in the water and set aside while you make the vinaigrette. – Recipe follows
4. Remove everything from the water lemon mixture and pat dry with paper towel.
5. Place the fennel in a small bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette.
6. Either stack or fan the fruit, alternating the pear and apple slices with slivers of fennel between every layer.
7. Drizzle the remaining Apple Maple Vinaigrette over top.
8. Serve immediately.

Apple Maple Vinaigrette

• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• ½ teaspoon grainy Dijon mustard
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

THE STEPS:

1. Place the apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, Dijon mustard, garlic, salt and pepper in a glass mason jar and shake well.
2. Add oil and shake again until completely emulsified.

THE LOVE: Don’t skip placing the fruit and veg in the lemon water or you’ll end up with a brownish salad because of oxidization.

Take time this weekend to give thanks for all that you have and all that you love and prepare to be dazzled.

Thanks for reading.