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Alex & Ika’s Apple Radicchio Salad

Editor’s Note: As of 2023, Alex and Ika, AKA Alex’s World Bistro, is now closed. But you can still read about it in this Good Food Stories feature.

We were paralyzed by indecision and had no appetite.

Dan and I had two days open to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary. This was supposed to be a big milestone worthy of a few more fireworks than normal.

apple radicchio salad with pecans and gorgonzola cheese
Photo: Casey Barber

But something about doing what we’ve always done to celebrate–pick a killer restaurant in the city and overeat to our hearts’ content–didn’t seem right.

Horrible to say that a glitzy, glamorous meal in Manhattan felt claustrophobic, but it did. The city was closing in on us and I just wanted to get the hell out of Dodge.

Somewhere within a few hours’ drive, somewhere not too pretentious, somewhere we could just breathe for 36 hours or so.

With five days to go and no reservations made, the planner in me was getting desperate. Then Dan threw out a wild pitch: how about Cooperstown, New York?

apple radicchio salad with pecans and gorgonzola cheese
Photo: Casey Barber

Anyone who has a mental picture of quintessential New England will recognize the setting of Cooperstown.

There are stately Colonial and Victorian homes on wide tree-lined roads, a main street (in this case, literally Main Street) of shops, diners, and small-town offices, and at the end of this particular street, the casually ambitious restaurant Alex’s Bistro.

The menu was significantly more intriguing than the rest of the dining options in town.

Though the view of Lake Otsego from the imposing Otesaga Resort Hotel might be more soul-stirring, something about the phrase “chocolate chocolate port thing with bourbon vanilla crème anglaise” clued me in that this would be the more entertaining meal.

After drinking a few selections from Cooperstown’s own Brewery Ommegang at Cooley’s Stone House Tavern, we strolled down Main Street past the souvenir shops, Louisville Slugger engravers, and the locked gates of Doubleday Field for what we hoped would be a successful culinary gamble.

apple radicchio salad with pecans and gorgonzola cheese
Photo: Casey Barber

I’m a sucker for big flavors, but I worried that a dish described as “char grilled rack of lamb with slow roasted tomatoes, artichokes, saffron porcini spinach risotto, toasted pine nuts, white truffle oil” might be a bit too much.

Although not quite as simply prepared as “a good home-cooked meal,” like our server assured us, the combined effect of so many elements didn’t overwhelm but melded into a rich, soothing fall stew.

Dan’s ruddy pink hanger steak did justice to the cow it came from, and I cheerfully commandeered his fragrant garlic braised mushrooms and somehow used them to make off with half the tarragon mustard cream on his plate too.

apple radicchio salad with pecans and gorgonzola cheese
Photo: Casey Barber

As a good wife, I left him with his entire portion of crunchy-skinned fried fingerling potatoes. This was city cooking for two urban escapees, but we didn’t mind a bit.

We basked in the calm and quiet with the remnants of our 2007 Ridge Lytton Springs Zinfandel bottle (shades of our first honeymoon meal in Monterey) as the only diners left at the tables while regulars wound things down at the bar.

Inspired by my appetizer, where julienned apples and radicchio came studded with cloves of roast garlic and balsamic onions, I’ve adapted the salad to eat at home.

apple radicchio salad with pecans and gorgonzola cheese

This apple radicchio salad is tossed with a creamy dressing to get the mellow flavors of the slow-cooked garlic and onions in each bite.

This roasted garlic and cipollini onion dressing really is the star of the show here. Don’t be put off by the multi-step process to make it.

I assure you that it’s not only perfectly suited for the sweet-bitter-rich combination of the apple radicchio salad, but it makes enough dressing for any other fall or winter salad on the meal plan.

apple radicchio salad with pecans and gorgonzola cheese

Apple Radicchio Salad with Roasted Garlic-Onion Balsamic Dressing

Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Apple radicchio salad looks simple, but but layers on the flavor with roasted garlic and onion balsamic dressing that steals the show.

Ingredients

Dressing

  • 1 head of garlic
  • olive oil
  • 8 cipollini onions
  • 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice, from 1-2 navel oranges
  • kosher salt

Salad

  • 2 heads radicchio
  • 2 large, crisp apples such as Jazz or Honeycrisp
  • 4 ounces crumbled gorgonzola dolce cheese
  • 1/2 cup toasted pecans or walnuts

Instructions

Make the dressing:

  1. Preheat the oven or toaster oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Place the garlic on a square of foil, drizzle lightly with olive oil, then wrap and roast the garlic for 45 minutes, until the cloves are soft and browned.
  3. While the garlic roasts, bring a small pot of water to a boil and fill a medium bowl with ice water.
  4. Add the onions and blanch for 15 seconds, then transfer to the ice water bowl until cool enough to handle.
  5. Peel the onions, trim off the stem and root ends, and cut in half.
  6. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a small high-sided pan over medium heat until shimmering.
  7. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and charred in spots. The onions will separate as you stir, and that's fine—you just want to caramelize the pieces slightly.
  8. Add the balsamic vinegar and orange juice to the pan.
  9. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sauce is reduced and slightly syrupy, about 10-12 minutes more.
  10. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
  11. When the garlic is roasted, carefully open the foil and let it cool as well.
  12. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins into the bowl of a blender or mini food processor.
  13. Add the onions and balsamic syrup, then pour in 3/4 cup olive oil.
  14. Process or blend until smooth, then add salt to taste.

Assemble the salad:

  1. Core the radicchio and remove any wilted exterior leaves.
  2. Slice thinly into shreds and add to a serving bowl.
  3. Core the apples and slice into thin batons, then add to the radicchio.
  4. Toss with dressing to taste; you don't want to drown the tender radicchio, but just coat lightly. Save the remaining dressing for another use.
  5. Sprinkle the gorgonzola and nuts over the salad and serve.

Notes

The dressing makes more than you'll need for the salad. Refrigerate leftover dressing in a sealed container for up to 2 weeks.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 459Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 29mgSodium: 299mgCarbohydrates: 63gFiber: 6gSugar: 39gProtein: 10g

The nutritional information above is computer-generated and only an estimate.

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9 Comments

  1. I love it when you discover a little restaurant on a whim. Your meal sounds fabulous–thanks for coming up with a recipe to imitate the flavors. I often use apples in salad with a mustard seed dressing–this sounds good too.

  2. This restaurants sounds great. Like MyKidsEatSquid, I love discovering out-of-the-way places like this. I’ve never made ANYTHING with radicchio but it’s in season right now at our Co-op. I’m inspired…

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