Port Wine Spinach Salad With Sweet and Spicy Pecans

Maito's Note:

Originally created for RSC #10. Nuts and dressing may be prepared ahead of time. You can use all balsamic vinegar for the dressing and skip the lemon, if you desire. If you want to take the bite out of the onions or shallots, you can let them sit in the dressing for about half an hour before serving.

• Total Time: 35 mins
• Prep Time: 25 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

Dressing

• 1 cup port wine
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Nuts

• ½ cup pecans or ½ cup walnuts
• 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon canola oil
• 1⁄8; teaspoon salt
• 1⁄8; teaspoon cinnamon (or more)
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Salad

• 12 cups spinach or 12 cups baby greens , this dressing sticks better to soft lettuces
• 2 apples, cut into thin wedges (I like to use pink ladies) or 2 pears , cut into wedges
• 1 ounce blue cheese , cut into pieces (or more)
• ¼ red onions, cut into eighths and sliced (optional) or 1 -2 shallot , minced (optional)

Directions:

1. To make dressing, reduce port wine to 3 tablespoons.
2. Transfer port syrup to another container, and whisk in balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, and olive oil. Dressing may be made in advance, and re-whisked before serving.
3. Bring water to a boil in a medium pot. Using a strainer or sieve, dip nuts in boiling water for one minute (this removes some of the bitterness).
4. Transfer nuts to a bowl and immediately sprinkle with sugar. Mix until all of the sugar is melted.
5. Heat canola oil on medium high heat in a nonstick pan. Sauté nuts for a few minutes. The nuts will become sort of candied.
6. Scatter nuts on a plate and sprinkle with spices. Toss to coast. Stir occasionally as nuts are cooling. Nuts may be kept for up to one week.
7. Toss spinach with dressing, and arrange apples, red onions, nuts, and blue cheese over the salad.

Reviews

[sugarpea]

This is a 27* salad dressing, Maito. Truly fabulous. I found the bleu cheese too overwhelming a flavor for the dressing. I'd use goat cheese next time.

[Andi of Longmeadow Farm]

What a refreshing, beautiful salad. The apple, the nuts, the dressing all combined makes one winning combination. I did use some oil and mixed the dressing up in my blender which made it light, frothy, and so tender tasting.The bit of confectioners sugar really made the whole taste just wonderful. I used fresh spinach I just picked from the cold frame and oh so tasty ...Oh and the blue cheese....divine! Thanks Maito! Loved it!

[anme]

I made this for my mother tonight for dinner and basiclly scaled it down to serve one, but kept the dressing the same. Skipped the oil as suggested by Rita and it worked great. The cinnamon and cayenne mixture on the pecans was very interesting but good! My mother adored this dressing and was quite happy I didnt scale the recipe down for that! I threw in some left over broiled balsamic vinegar chicken to make this a full meal.