My ideal salads are the ones that have tons of texture, acid, and salt. This one, in particular, hits every note: it’s fresh, bitter, salty, sweet, and crunchy as hell. Yes, the bit of fish sauce is optional, but I will say that its uniquely salty, savory funkiness takes this salad from simply great to truly, impossibly delicious. Feel free to mix up the types of herbs and nuts here, depending on what you have and what you like, swapping mint for parsley or walnuts for almonds.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• ½ cup skin-on roasted Almonds, chopped (see Note)
• 2 Endives, ends trimmed, quartered lengthwise, leaves separated
• 1 large tart Apple, cored and thinly sliced crosswise into rounds
• 1 Shallot, thinly sliced crosswise into rings
• 1 cup fresh Parsley, tender stems and leaves
• ½ cup Mint Leaves
• 3 Tbsp Olive Oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground Black Pepper
• 2 Tbsp fresh Lemon Juice, plus more as needed
• 1 tsp Asian Fish Sauce (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the almonds on a rimmed baking sheet (you could use a rimless one, but they slide off easily, so be prepared to pick up nuts off the floor for at least a few weeks). Toast, shaking the baking sheet once or twice, until the nuts are evenly and deeply toasted, anywhere from 8 to 12 minutes. When you break open the nuts, they should be toasted to the core, smell like buttered toast, and be nuttier tasting than when they went in.

Combine the almonds and olive oil in a small bowl. Season well with salt and pepper.

Toss the endive, apple, shallot, parsley, mint, lemon juice, and fish sauce (if using) in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Taste a leaf or two of endive and adjust with more lemon, salt, or pepper, if needed.

Place the apples and endive on a large serving platter or bowl and top with the salted almond mixture.

Reprinted from Dining In. Copyright © 2017 by Alison Roman. Photographs copyright ©2017 by Michael Graydon and Nikole Herriott. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC.