Persimmon Salad

Persimmon Salad from www.whatsgabycooking.com (@whatsgabycookin)

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5 from 8 votes

The incredible flavorful fall salad features my all time favorite fall fruit: PERSIMMONS! Get ready to be obsessed!

Prep Time10

Cook Time0

Total Time10

Course: Salad

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Servings: people

Author: Gaby Dalkin

Ingredients

2 pounds Fuyu persimmons and/or Honeycrisp Apples
8 ounces Radicchio or Treviso
4 ounces baby kale or another hearty green
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
1 shallot, finely chopped
Kosher salt, freshly cracked black pepper and red pepper flakes to taste
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ cup pomegranate seeds
3 tablespoons candied walnuts or marcona almonds
½ cup crumbled feta (I prefer to buy the one in the brine) optional

Instructions

Cut off the tough green tops and slice each persimmon in 10 to 12 wedges.
In a small jar, combine the olive oil, vinegar, honey, shallot, cumin, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Tightly cover and shake hard to mix well. Taste the dressing on a small piece of persimmon. There should be just enough red pepper flakes to give it a little kick. If you'd like it hotter, add more and shake again
Combine the persimmons, radicchio, kale and the dressing in a work bowl and toss to coat well. Turn the salad out into a decorative bowl and sprinkle with the pomegranate seeds and walnuts. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

Notes

Buy Fuyu, not Hachiya. Fuyu persimmons are the squat tomato-shaped ones you can eat firm and sliced. Hachiya are pointy and have to be jelly-soft before they're edible (and they're astringent if eaten too soon). For salads, Fuyu only.
Slice the persimmons in ¼-inch rounds, not wedges. Rounds show off the floral five-point pattern in the center. Wedges look like apple slices and lose the visual.
Soak the shallot in vinegar for 5 minutes before whisking the dressing. Quick-pickling the diced shallot in cider vinegar takes the raw bite out and turns it sweet. Skipping this is what makes a vinaigrette taste sharp instead of bright.
Toast the cumin in a dry pan. 30 seconds in a hot dry skillet wakes up ground cumin and gives the dressing a deeper, smokier base note. The recipe uses a small amount, so the bloom matters.
Massage the baby kale. A 60-second hand massage with a pinch of salt and a drizzle of olive oil softens the leaves and removes that cardboard-y kale chew. Baby kale is gentler than mature kale, but the technique still helps.
Toss the radicchio in the dressing first, then add everything else. Radicchio holds its texture even after dressing and benefits from the marinade. Stack the more delicate ingredients on top so they don't drown.
Seed the pomegranate underwater. Cut the pom in half, submerge in a bowl of cold water, and rub the seeds out with your fingers. The membrane floats, the seeds sink, your shirt stays clean.
Make candied walnuts ahead. They keep airtight at room temp for 2 weeks. Skip the day-of stress; have them in the pantry from October on for any salad that wants crunch.
Dress at the table, not in the kitchen. Toss the salad in front of guests right before serving. Pre-dressed salads sit and weep, especially with persimmon's high water content.
Add the feta last and gently. Crumbling feta into a fully tossed salad gives you discrete pockets of cheese instead of a dressed-on smear. Sprinkle from above and let it land where it lands.
Save 1 tablespoon of dressing for finishing. Drizzle the reserved dressing over the top after plating. The visible vinaigrette ribbon makes the salad photograph and read more composed.

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