Winter Salad
- Ready In:
- 1hr 5mins
- Ingredients:
- 20
- Serves:
-
6
ingredients
-
Glazed Pecans
- 1 cup whole pecans
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1⁄4 cup light corn syrup
- 1 dash salt
-
Dressing
- 1⁄2 cup walnut oil or 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1⁄4 cup cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons minced shallots
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
-
Salad
- 1 head red leaf lettuce
- 1 head bibb lettuce
- 1 cup watercress leaf
- 2 medium Red Delicious apples
- lemon water or orange juice, for dipping apples
- 3⁄4 cup glazed pecans
- 3⁄4 cup blue cheese, crumbles
- 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
- 1⁄4 cup dried cranberries
directions
- Glazed Pecans: Melt butter, syrup and salt; add pecans and stir together; spread on baking sheet and bake at 250° for 45-60 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.
- Remove to waxed paper to cool; chip into pieces and set aside or store in air-tight container.
- Dressing: Place all ingredients in a small jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake until combined; refrigerate until needed.
- Salad: Tear lettuce into bite-sized pieces and mix with watercress in a large salad bowl; cut apples into thin wedges (dip in lemon water or orange juice); add onions, pecans, bleu cheese and cranberries; drizzle with salad dressing and toss to combine.
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Reviews
-
very tasty. I ran out of time at the last minute and had to throw it together out of what I had on hand - so I didn't make it quite as directed. (missed out the shallots altogether. used brown sugar instead of corn syrup, used a mixed pack of salad leaves, and used feta instead of blue cheese & honey instead of maple syrup). However, even with those changes the guests raved about it..
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Great salad. I served for Christmas dinner, and it was loved by everyone. I used red onion instead of the shallots, and romaine instead of the bibb. I also subed feta cheese for the blue cheese, as I dont care for blue cheese. And I doubled the amount of dried cranberries, since I love them. It was nice to have a light tasting salad to go with a heavy meal.
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Wow! This was one of the best salads I've had in a long, long time. With the blend of colors it looks as good as it tastes, too. I couldn't find watercress so omitted it; in retrospect, I think fresh spinach would be a good sub for that and will definitely try that next time. The only other change in my salad was to substitute crumbled feta for the blue cheese, as I was not among blue cheese afficianados, lol. It worked very well and had a mellower flavor than the blue cheese would have, allowing the other toppings (especially the cranberries and pecans) to really shine. I wasn't exactly sure what result I was looking for when baking the pecans but after 45 minutes they were crisp and light and the coating had turned to something like a light toffee (and smelled divine) so I stopped there. They were SO good that the kids and I were having a hard time not eating them all while they were cooling. (Hint: do not let the pan/spoon cool down too much before you wash/soak them because that syrup hardens into stone, lol.) A full cup of pecans seemed like a bit much once we got to putting them on the lettuce so I used closer to 1/2-3/4 c and have saved the rest back for other salads. This has gone straight to the top of my salad recipes, especially during the holiday season when I have to take things for dinner parties. Thanks so much for posting this beautiful and tasty recipe!
Tweaks
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Wow! This was one of the best salads I've had in a long, long time. With the blend of colors it looks as good as it tastes, too. I couldn't find watercress so omitted it; in retrospect, I think fresh spinach would be a good sub for that and will definitely try that next time. The only other change in my salad was to substitute crumbled feta for the blue cheese, as I was not among blue cheese afficianados, lol. It worked very well and had a mellower flavor than the blue cheese would have, allowing the other toppings (especially the cranberries and pecans) to really shine. I wasn't exactly sure what result I was looking for when baking the pecans but after 45 minutes they were crisp and light and the coating had turned to something like a light toffee (and smelled divine) so I stopped there. They were SO good that the kids and I were having a hard time not eating them all while they were cooling. (Hint: do not let the pan/spoon cool down too much before you wash/soak them because that syrup hardens into stone, lol.) A full cup of pecans seemed like a bit much once we got to putting them on the lettuce so I used closer to 1/2-3/4 c and have saved the rest back for other salads. This has gone straight to the top of my salad recipes, especially during the holiday season when I have to take things for dinner parties. Thanks so much for posting this beautiful and tasty recipe!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
sugarpea
Snohomish, WA
I’m a former interior designer and landscape designer. At the moment I get to enjoy being at home and working only when I want to. I like rollerblading, hiking, backpacking and trips to the ocean. I grew up on a farm in the Midwest and moved to the Northwest when I was thirty, over twenty years ago. I’m afraid they’ll have to bury me here in WA. This is God’s country and I’m never leaving.
I have a smallish collection of cookbooks, preferring to use the library and a copy machine. Among my favorites though, are: Recipes 1-2-3, by Rozanne Gold, a collection of recipes containing no more than 3 ingredients (excepting water, salt and pepper); A Treasury of Great Recipes, by Mary and Vincent Price, recipes collected from friends and chefs of great restaurants around the world; The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook, by Nancy Harmon Jenkins, about a collection of cuisines I’m convinced are the healthiest in the world and The Low-Calorie Gourmet, by Pierre Franey.
Currently my passions are our dogs, the garden, cooking, the natural world and of course, Dh. I can now add Zaar to that list of passions (translate: addiction). We have three dogs, two rescued and one adopted. They are Sugarpea, a Golden Retriever, Chickpea, a Llasa Apso and Sweetpea, a Shih Tzu; small, medium and large. We’re quite a sight out on the trail. One of the things I am most fond of about living here is the ability to vegetable garden year ‘round.