How to Make a Great Salad with Candied Pecans

I had been hankering for a wonderful, mouth-watering salad for ages. I finally collected all the ingredients at the same time, and found the perfect salad dressing recipe to go with it. Sadly, this was last September, and I'm only just thinking to blog about it. Sigh.

I collected a bunch of fresh baby spinach, some dried cranberries (fresh and chewy), and then I cubed some feta cheese. To heck with the low-fat kind, I figured; I was looking for some serious flavor here.

Next came the really time-consuming part. I'd heard about how to make basic candied pecans, and though it sounded labor-intensive, I was finally up for it.

First, you make a simple syrup (I believe I used 2:1 parts sugar to water) and cook it on the stove at a low heat until it is smooth. 

Next, put a baking sheet lined with wax paper underneath a cookie cooling rack. Throw all the pecans into the simple syrup, and then set them out in a single layer on the cooling rack. This can get really messy--hence the lined baking sheet underneath. 

Then comes the "fun" part--wait until the syrup has dried on the pecans and is no longer dripping. The pecans should be very sticky but not actually wet at this point. I'm not really sure how long it takes for the pecans to dry, but plan on checking on them after a couple of hours.

After they've completely dried, re-dip them in the simple syrup and repeat laying them out and letting them dry. Finally, pour them all back into the simple syrup and let them completely dry for a third time. A word of caution: at this point, you may be tempted to skip either the second or third times of dipping the nuts and letting them dry, but resist the impulse! The nuts will be so much richer in flavor if they have all three coatings on them.

Okay, so after the pecans have finished drying for the third time, preheat your oven to no more than 350 degrees, lay out a cookie sheet with foil on it, and place the pecans in a single layer on the sheet. Put them in the oven and don't go anywhere! 

As soon as the nuts become aromatic (or, if you've got a cold, after someone else says they can smell them), remove them from the oven. This will take anywhere between 5 and 10-ish minutes, maybe a bit longer.

Allow the nuts to cool completely, and store in an airtight container if you're not using them immediately (but they don't store indefinitely, so use them up!).

Next, mix up the recipe for this killer lemon vinaigrette (courtesy of Cooks.com):

Lemon Vinaigrette

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. Dijon-style mustard
• 1/2 c. vegetable oil
• 1/4 tsp. freshly grated lemon zest
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Pinch freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp. sugar

Directions

In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, vinegar and mustard. Whisk in oil. Add lemon zest, salt, pepper, and sugar. (Or, just throw everything into a cruet and shake it up!) Makes 3/4 cup.

So now you've got fresh baby spinach, chunks of feta cheese, candied pecan halves, dried cranberries, and a luscious lemon vinaigrette to go over it. Toss the ingredients together and pour your homemade vinaigrette over the top. Enjoy!