Autumn Vegetable Salad

Who says salads are only for summer? Apicius International School of Hospitality’s Faculty and students have developed this unique take on the traditional summer salad, re-imagining it with ingredients that can be found during the fall season. They’ve created a unique dish that is as nutritious as it is flavorful, perfect if you’re trying to watch what you eat in these cold months.

Serves 4

Ingredients 

For the citronette dressing:
2 Lemons 
Salt & Pepper to taste

For the salad:
100 g Mushrooms 
50 g Salted ricotta 
50 g White grapes
1 Cauliflower Head
1 Red Cabbage Head
1 Fennel
50 g Rucola
2 Pears
100 g White Grapes
1 Endive
50 g Baby Spinach
50 g Sunflower Seeds

Method

Start by preparing the citronette by squeezing the lemons and mixing the juice with salt and pepper to taste. After you’ve done that, slice the red cabbage, cauliflower, and fennel paper thin and dress with the citronette; add salt if needed. Set aside the red cabbage since we will use it for the plating later.
Cut the mushrooms in wedges and sauté in a pan with oil and garlic until fully cooked, then set aside to cool down. While you wait, cut in half each one of the grapes and julienne the endive. Once ready, combine with the spinach, rucola, mushrooms, grapes, and endive in a bowl together with the cauliflower and fennel you’ve previously dressed with the citronette.

To plate the dish, firstly assemble all the elements we’ve cooked so far on a shallow plate. Lay the red cabbage creating a nest in the middle where you will place the rest of the salad. To finish, thinly slice the pears and set them on top of the salad with the sunflower seeds to decorate the dish, and as a last touch sprinkle some flakes of salted ricotta on top of the salad.