Nga Nguyen

Apple salad with almonds and blue cheese

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year, I ventured into trying a few new recipes, and I’m thrilled to share that they all turned out fantastic. Stay tuned as I’ll be posting the recipes in the next few days. Here’s a glimpse of our delightful Thanksgiving menu:

For Snacks:

  • Rosemary Cran-Rita Cocktails (for the adults)
  • Hot Apple Cider (for the kids)
  • Baked Brie with Rosemary, Honey, and Peppercorns
  • Crackers
  • Chili Almonds

For Dinner:

For Desserts:

After our feast, we enjoyed playing Codename until midnight. It was a fantastic spending quality time with our family and friends.

Apple salad with almonds and blue cheese

(Adapted from Food & Wine)

For 6 servings as an appetizer

1/4 cup olive oil
10 garlic cloves (peeled)
2 tbs apple cider vinegar
1 shallot (finely chopped)
Salt and pepper to taste
4 Granny Smith apples (cored and sliced into 1/4″ matchsticks)
3 heads Belgian endive (cored and halved lengthwise)
5 oz blue cheese (crumbled)
1 cup roasted unsalted almonds (coarsely chopped)
Chopped chives (optional)

  1. In a small saucepan, heat olive oil + garlic cloves over medium heat.
  2. Stir and cook until garlic is golden, about 5 minutes.
  3. Remove from the heat and let it cool for 5 minutes.
  4. Pour the cooked olive oil into a large salad bowl.
  5. Transfer the fried garlics to a chopping board.
  6. Use a fork to smash the fried garlic into a paste.
  7. Add the garlic paste + vinegar + shallot into the salad bowl with olive oil.
  8. Season with salt and pepper.
  9. Add apples + endive + almonds + chives (if using) to the salad bowl.
  10. Sprinkle blue cheese on top.
  11. Serve immediately.