APPLE, PECAN AND SPINACH SALAD

APPLE, PECAN AND SPINACH SALAD
Sweet red apples and pecans tossed with fresh spinach in a walnut oil and raspberry vinaigrette!

Makes 4 servings

5 T. walnut oil

2-1/2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar

1 garlic clove, peeled and grated

1/4 t. dry mustard

salt to taste

1 bunch fresh flat leaf spinach, stems removed, washed and crisped

1 red apple, quartered from tip to tip, cored and sliced into thin uniform slices

1 light handful pecan halves

In small mixing bowl combine oil, vinegar, garlic, mustard and salt. Stir briskly with fork till thickened.

To assemble salad: Place spinach leaves in large salad bowl. Sprinkle apples and pecans over spinach. Then, drizzle dressing over all and toss till leaves are well-coated. Spoon onto individual salad plates. Since the apples and pecans do not cling to the spinach leaves, make sure to put some of each in each person’s serving.

Notes: Serve as a light lunch or supper with toasted French bread, or as an accompaniment to pasta tossed with garlic, melted margarine and fresh herbs.

If you prepare your ingredients ahead of time, submerge apple slices in just enough water to cover, then add the juice of 1/2 lemon. Although most cooks use only lemon juice to keep the fruit from discoloring, I prefer to dilute the lemon with water, so as to keep the flavor of the apple prominent.

You may wonder why if using walnut oil in the dressing, I don’t use walnuts in the salad. Simply answered, the pecans impart greater sweetness to the over-all flavor achievement.

The walnut oil I use is an import from France: Huille de Noix by G. Vivier. There are, of course, other walnut oils, but the walnut flavor is barely discernible in all others that I’ve tried. Pay for the best, then use it only now and then as a special treat.