Spinach Salad with Roasted Apple Dressing, Toasted Pecans & Goat Cheese

Name: Spinach Salad with Roasted Apple Dressing, Toasted Pecans & Goat Cheese
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 firm, tart apple, such as Honeycrisp or Fuji, cored, peeled, and chopped into ½-in/12-mm pieces; 1 garlic clove, minced; 1 large shallot, minced; 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves; 1 cup/240 ml apple cider or good-quality apple juice; ¼ cup/60 ml canola oil; ¼ cup/60 ml apple cider vinegar; Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper; ¼ cup/60 ml extra-virgin olive oil; 6 oz/170 g baby spinach leaves; 1 firm, tart apple, such as Honeycrisp or Fuji, cored, peeled, and thinly sliced; 3 oz/85 g chèvre or other soft goat cheese, crumbled; ½ cup/55 g pecan pieces, toasted and chopped; 1 generous handful frisee

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Brown Sugar Kitchen

By Tanya Holland

Published 2014

About

A great salad must be perfectly dressed, with dressing lightly coating each leaf. None of this drizzle-over-the-top stuff. I like to mix frisée with spinach to add to the color and texture. The addition of some protein—roast chicken, roast turkey, or smoked trout—turns this salad into a satisfying main course.

Ingredients

Roasted Apple Dressing

1 firm, tart apple, such as Honeycrisp or Fuji, cored, peeled, and chopped into ½-in/12-mm pieces
1

Method

To make the dressing

In a small saucepan, combine the apple, shallot, garlic, thyme, and apple cider and cook over medium heat until the apple is tender and most of the liquid has cooked down, about 10 minutes. In a blender or food processor, combine the cooked apple mixture with the vinegar and process until smooth. With the blender running, drizzle in the canola and olive oils and p