"But it's APPLE salad!"

These are the words my 4 year old kept repeating to his brother, over and over again, at dinner. It seemed to bother him immensely that his brother did not want to eat any of my salad!

Actually, he didn't want to eat any of dinner, neither the salad or the ribs. He did eat the slices of cucumber I had put on his plate though, hedging my bets that he wouldn't want to eat the salad and should probably have some kind of veggie.

Eventually he agreed to take a bite, one small sliver of fennel, liked it, and helped him self to a little bit of the salad. He also tried his ribs, enjoyed those, and even took another piece later.

The funniest part though, was his moaning over what I had made for dessert, grilled peaches with lemon honey cream, how he didn't like peaches! Until he took a bite. Then inhaled the rest. Then asked for another. Then asked if he could have what was left over!

What do you know, Mom can cook something, other than spaghetti, that he likes!

The salad came about as a result of a brain storm while wandering the produce section of my local store, trying to decide what to make as a side to two racks of spare ribs. My initial thought was something that would go well with a honey garlic glaze for the ribs, but then I decided I wanted a dry seasoning instead of sticky, and a bit more oomph than honey garlic would provide. Montreal chicken and rib seasoning gave the ribs the flavor I wanted, and matched well with the bright crispness of the apple, fennel and citrus salad.

Apple, Fennel and Citrus Salad

2 royal gala apples
1/2 head of fennel, reserving fronds
1/2 small red onion
1 small orange (I only had 1 clementine on hand so used it)
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper

Grate the zest of the orange into the bottom of a large bowl. Juice the orange and add it to the zest, then add the rice wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Whisk in the olive oil in a stream, until all the ingredients are combined.

Wash, quarter and core the apples. Slice thinly and immediately add the apple slices to the dressing, tossing to coat the apples and prevent browning.

Thinly slice the fennel, the fennel fronds, and the red onion and add to the bowl with the apples. Toss all together then serve.

This salad was even better the next day!


Grilled Peaches with Lemon Honey Cream

4 ripe peaches
1/2 cup whipping cream
2-3 tablespoons lemon honey

Cut peaches in half and remove the pits. Place cut side down on hot bbq grill and walk away. In 3-5 minutes, the peaches should have beautiful grill marks and have softened slightly. Remove from the grill and leave cut side down on a plate until ready to serve.

Whip the cream just until stiff peaks begin to form. Continue to whip slowly while adding in the lemon honey. Taste and add more if necessary.

If desired, remove the skin from the peaches, which should slip off easily. Top peach halves with the sweetened honey and enjoy!