Blue Cheese and Apple Salad with Balsamic Fig Dressing

One of our family’s favorite salads combine salty, tangy blue cheese, some kind of apple, some kind of nut, and some sort of figgyness, I love it no matter which combo we whip up, but this is by far my favorite. The dressing has fig butter (find it at Trader Joes!), mustard, garlic, and balsamic. It is sweet, tangy, and complex all at the same time. It is a great dressing for any mixed green salad, but it really compliments blue cheese nicely.

Start by toasting up your 1/4 cup of pine nuts. Simply place them in a frying pan on the stove on medium heat. Let heat for about 30 seconds and then give it a shake. Shake again after another 30 seconds to make sure the nuts don’t burn! Take them off the stove and set them aside.

Next, whisk up the dressing. You need 1/2 cup of good olive oil (channeling Ina here), 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, 1 heaping tablespoon of fig butter (Trader Joes!!), 1 1/2 teaspoons of brown mustard, 1 garlic clove (it’s best to grate it on a microplane!), 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper. Measure it all in a measuring cup and whisk it together. I love these little mini whisks. you can also just throw it in a jar and shake it up!

Slice up half of an apple. I used pink ladies this time, but you can use fuji, gala, or really any apple. Crumble up about 3/4 of a cup of blue cheese.

Put your salad greens in a bowl and top with the apple slices, blue cheese, and pine nuts. Drizzle the dressing over top and you are ready to dig in!!