Raspberry Salad with Pecans and Goat Cheese

This is a delicious salad, a great treat for a dinner party or a holiday dinner. It is slightly labour intensive, as there a number of steps. However most of them can be done prior, and then easily assembled at dinner time. This salad not only tastes rich and melts in your mouth but is relatively guilt free with minimum fat content. If you are concern with fat, consider goat cheese as optional and leave it out, it will be just as delicious.

SERVES 8-10

INGREDIENTS

3-45g watercress (1-1.5 oz)
142g field greens
20 basil leaves

2  cups freshly frozen raspberries
1  shallot, chopped
2  tbs honey
2  tbs seasoned rice vinegar
1  tbs lemon juice, freshly squeezed
2  tsp Dijon mustard
1  tsp olive oil
½ tsp turmeric
    salt and freshly ground black pepper

2  avocados, sliced thinly
256g cherry tomatoes (9 oz)
100g goat cheese (3.6 oz)
170g raspberries, fresh (6 oz)

50g pecans (1.7 oz)
1  tsp butter
2  tsp brown sugar
nutmeg, pinch
turmeric, pinch
    salt and freshly ground black pepper

   
Dressing. To make the dressing. combine in a blender frozen raspberries, shallot, honey, seasoned rice vinegar, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, olive oil, turmeric, and salt and freshly ground black pepper. Blend until smooth. (This will make 2 cups of dressing, if you don't use it all keep it in the fridge and use it in the next 2 days.) Pour it through a small sieve to eliminate raspberry seeds.

Pecans. You can make this ahead of time or do it a few minutes before serving the salad. The pecans will be nice and warm and will slightly melt the goat cheese.
Add butter to a small skillet on medium heat, when butter melts add pecans, brown sugar, nutmeg, turmeric and pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper. When everything caramelizes and is nice and crisp put pecans on a cutting board and roughly chop them, some may have stuck together.

Ready to assemble. Place the greens in a large bowl. Add avocados, cherry tomatoes, and then enough dressing to coat everything without making it soggy, gently toss. Add goat cheese, pecans, fresh raspberries and serve. Enjoy!!


TIP DU JOUR:
About an hour before dinner, submerge the greens in a large bowl with cold water, you can add a few ice cubes. The result, crisp and vibrant greens. Just don’t forget to dry them.

If you don’t want to add butter to the pecans, substitute half of an egg white. Then mix the egg white with all the spices and pecans. Layer them on a non stick material in an oven proof dish and bake for 10-15 minutes at 250 degrees F. Keep an eye on
them so they don’t burn.