Pear-Blue Cheese Salad 1 T butter
1 cup pecans
½ cup granulated sugar
1/8 t salt
1 bag spinach (or a mix of spinach and romaine lettuces)
2 ripe pears (or crisp apples – pears are best)
½ cup crumbled blue cheese
To make pecans: In a nonstick skillet using a wooden spoon (must be wooden, a plastic spoon will melt), over medium high heat, melt butter. Add pecans, sugar and salt. Stirring constantly, move pecans in pan until sugar begins to dissolve. Once most of sugar is dissolved, take pan off of stove, and let pecans cool completely.
Audrey’s note: It seems initially in this process that nothing is happening, and then the sugar dissolves all at once. At this point it is very easy to burn the pecans, so be careful to stir constantly, and remove from heat if the pecans are getting too brown.
Place spinach/ lettuce in salad bowl. Top with pears (sliced thinly), crumbled blue cheese, and pecans (cooled and slightly crumbled with your hand as you put them on top of the salad. Dress salad lightly with vinaigrette recipe below.
Dijon Vinaigrette
6 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp. finely chopped onions or shallots
3 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
6-10 Tbsp sugar (or splenda)
(Audrey’s note: use as much sugar as you prefer, vinegar should taste sweet but still tangy. If it is not sweet enough, add slightly more sugar, if it is too sweet add slightly more vinegar)
1 Tbsp. Dijon style mustard
½ t salt
¼ t black pepper
In a blender, Quisinart or using a hand blender, combine all ingredients. If you don’t have any of the above tools you can put in a container with a lid and shake very well.
When dressing the salad, don’t use all of the vinaigrette, first dress it with about ½ of the dressing and taste it to see if it needs more (an over-dressed salad can be gross…)
Butternut Squash Soup1 Med. - Large Butternut Squash
1 Large Onion, Chopped
1/2 C. Butter
3 C. Chicken Broth
1 1/4 C. Evaporated Milk
1/8 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
Pinch of Salt
Dash of nutmeg
Roast Squash in oven. Remove seeds and skin. Saute onion and butter. Puree onions butter & Squash in blender until smooth. In stockpot add all ingredients. Heat thoroughly. *{Quick method Remove skin from squash and cube. In stockpot, cook squash and onion in butter until soft. Then continue at the puree step.}
Italian BreadWride's secret recipe.
