Endive Black Berry Salad with Goat Cheese and Diced Apples

新年前夜的色拉当然要与众不同，又要色香味俱佳，又要同我做的苹果蔓越莓烤鸭相辅相成。思来想去，这款鲜嫩欲滴的黑莓苹果色拉再合适不过了。

做出来后，好评如潮啊。

It’s the New Year Eve today, and I was hoping to make it easy for my guests to flow from the ruby-red pomegranate Champaign, to some colorful and yet tasty salad, and then cultivate at the main course, roasted duck with apple and cranberry. Additionally, I would prefer the salad with the right coloring and presentation for the holiday dinner table.

I am glad we made this salad. It is delicious, original and very presentable. The slight bitterness from endive plays extremely well with the sweetness from the apple, blackberry and the home-made blackberry vinaigrette.

Ingredients for Salad
1)Endive
2)Red delicious apple
3)Fresh blackberry
4)Herb goat cheese, crumbled
5)Home-made blackberry vinaigrette dressing

Ingredients for the Blackberry Vinaigrette
1)1 tablespoon minced shallots
2)1 teaspoon minced garlic
3)1 (10-ounce) bag frozen blackberries or berry mix
4)1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar
5)2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
6)1/2 teaspoon sugar

Make the Blackberry Vinaigrette
Heat the olive oil over a medium-high heat in a 10-inch saute pan. Once the oil is hot, add the shallots and garlic to the pan. Stirring continuously, for 1 minute. Add the frozen blackberries to the pan and cook for 2 minutes. Add the white balsamic and regular balsamic vinegars and allow it to reduce by half, about 30 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat and place the contents in a bar blender with the sugar, mint and tarragon. Pulse the berries in the blender until a smooth paste forms. With the machine running, season the berries with the salt and pepper and drizzle the light olive oil into the blender.

Once blended, strain the vinaigrette through a fine mesh sieve and allow it to cool completely before using, about 1 hour under refrigeration.