Whole Baked Apple Arugula Salad

An elegant apple salad recipe featuring whole baked apples filled with bacon and shallots, served over arugula and cabbage with a sweet honey mustard dressing. A delicious twist on the classic apple and rocket salad — perfect for entertaining.

Course Salad

Cuisine International

Diet Gluten Free, Low Lactose

Dietary Dairy Free, Egg Free, Gluten Free

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 35

Total Time 50

Servings people

Calories 313kcal

Author Amy Chung

Ingredients

Salad

1 bacon rasher
1 shallot
4 red apple
40 g arugula (rocket leaves)
2 tbsp pine nuts
½ pomegranate de-seed
¼ red cabbage
2½ tbsp olive oil

Salad Dressing

2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp honey
¼ lemon

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Salad

Preheat the oven at 180°C or 350°F.
Remove the bacon rind and cut into small pieces.
Peel and slice shallots thinly.
On medium heat, add 1 tbsp of olive oil to a small fry pan.
Fry bacon and shallots for 5 minutes or until medium brown. Set aside.
Using an apple corer, remove the core.
Set mandoline at 3 cm thickness and slice the apple.
After slicing each apple, put the slices back to resemble a whole apple.
Baste 1/2 tbsp of olive oil in a ceramic baking dish.
Stuff each apple with bacon and shallots and bake at 180°C or 350°F for 30 minutes.
Slice red cabbage thinly.
In a small fry pan, dry toast pine nuts until golden brown.

Salad Dressing

In a small mixing bowl, add the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey and the juice of ¼ lemon.
Mix until well combined.

Assembly

In a medium size mixing bowl, add arugula, red cabbage. ½ pine nuts and ½ the pomegranate seeds.
Add 1 tbsp of olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Mix until well combined.
Place the salad onto a large platter.
Put the whole baked apples on top.
Sprinkle the rest of the pine nuts and pomegranate on top.
Drizzle the dressing on top of the apples.
Season with cracked pepper to taste.
Serve.

Video

Notes

For a vegan salad, omit the bacon or use vegan bacon. You can use the seitan version of even the tofu version marinated in soy to give the much needed saltiness. Replace honey with maple syrup or organic rice malt syrup.
You can certainly use green cabbage for this recipe if you’re unable to find red cabbage.
You can substitute cabbage with kohlrabi or Brussels sprouts.
If you don’t like arugula, you can try watercress or purslane. You do need some peppery notes to complement the sweetness from the apple and saltiness from the bacon.
Dried pomegranate or cranberries would work well if pomegranates are not in season.
Core carefully so as to leave the base intact so the stuffing stays inside.
Don’t overbake the apples as they should be soft but still hold structure after 30 minutes

Nutrition