Salad with apple, walnuts and blue cheese

Ingredients:

Salad

• 220 g thick slices of bacon
• 220 g young arugula
• 1 large green Granny Smith apple, peeled and diced
• 0.5 cup toasted walnut halves, coarsely chopped
• 0.5 cups dried cranberries
• 170 g crumbled blue cheese, such as Roquefort

Refueling

• 3 tablespoons of high-quality apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp. grated orange zest
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2.5 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp. maple syrup
• Coarse salt
• 0.5 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2/3 cup good quality olive oil

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place a rack on a baking sheet and lay the bacon slices on it. Bake the bacon for about 20 minutes, until crispy. Let cool.
2. In a large bowl, combine arugula, apple, walnuts, cranberries and blue cheese.
3. For the dressing, combine the vinegar, orange zest, orange juice, mustard, maple syrup, 1.5 teaspoons of salt, and black pepper in a bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil.
4. Chop the bacon into large pieces and add it to the salad. Drizzle the dressing over the salad to moisten it. Sprinkle with 0.5 teaspoon of salt and toss well. Serve immediately.