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Pea Shoot, Pickled Cherry and Apple Salad

By Brandy

Jul 30, 2014, Updated Oct 23, 2014

This delicious pea shoot salad is fancied up with fresh pickled cherries, delicious jazz apples, feta cheese and crunchy pistachios. This is one fantastic salad!

For years I thought having a salad meant iceberg lettuce topped in thick Ranch dressing.  To make my salad even better I would also top it with cheese, croutons and sunflower seeds…oh and some bacon bits. I seriously couldn’t understand why people hated salad or why they would call it “rabbit food.” Surely rabbits didn’t eat bacon.

Then it was brought to my attention that my salad probably had more calories in it than a Big Mac and my world was rocked. No more croutons and bacon bits? Say whaaaaaa? 

Now I should probably say that I don’t think eating a fattening salad is at all bad. Go for it! BUT if you are trying to eat healthy you could probably try harder….you know? But I also don’t believe that eating salad has be to be depressing or boring. Nothing makes me more angry than a boring salad. A boring salad with no dressing or toppings is basically the equivalent of someone giving up and just living in sweat pants. You gotta make it your own!

For this salad I used fresh pea shoots I found at Trader Joe’s and topped it with homemade pickled cherries {I shared the recipe last week}, fresh Jazz apples, feta cheese and pistachios. I gotta have the nuts for crunch. Whats a meal without the crunch?

I made a simple honey mustard vinaigrette and called it lunch. If I were going to make this for dinner I would add a little grilled chicken as well. I think the added protein could really push this beauty into a totally satisfying supper.

Pea Shoot, Pickled Cherry and Apple Salad

This delicious pea shoot salad is fancied up with fresh pickled cherries, delicious jazz apples and crunchy pistachios. This is one fantastic salad.

Yield: 1 large salad

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 0 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

For salad:
4 ounces pea shoots
6 pickled cherries, cut in half
1 Jazz apple, thinly sliced
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup chopped pistachios

For honey mustard vinaigrette:
1 small shallot, minced
2 tablespoons honey mustard
3 tablespoons champagne vinegar
1 cup olive oil
Kosher salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

For salad:

In a large bowl add all ingredients and toss. Drizzle with honey mustard vinaigrette and serve immediately.

For honey mustard vinaigrette:
In a medium sized bowl add shallot, honey mustard and champagne vinegar. Whisk together to combine and slowly drizzle in olive oil while whisking. Once fully combined season with salt and pepper to taste.

Note: The apples will brown quickly so you can either dip them in lemon juice to keep them from browning or add them right before serving.

Disclosure: I was provided free apples and monetary compensation for creating this recipe. All opinions and thoughts are 100% my own.