California Spring Salad

I went to Vancouver BC last weekend... and I fell in love. I fell in love with a salad. I went to Milestones Restaurant and had the California Spring Salad and it is delish! I also had the California Eggs Benedict with shrimp and although it was a little cold, it was great! The food and atmosphere reminds me of Scotty Browns here in Bellingham (Scotty Browns is also a Canadian owned restaurant). This salad is crisp, sweet, and perfect for summer get togethers... can you tell I am excited for summer yet??

Although I would love to claim I am perfect at recipes 100% of the time and never make mistakes, I failed. BIG TIME. So I went to the store and forgot to get white wine vinegar, which is essential to the salad dressing. Anyway I figured, "White wine vinegar... white wine... ok I'll use white wine instead! Should be the same... right?!" LOL, no! I don't suggest trying to substitute on the fly without some kind of research first. Google knows everything so if I ever have a question, I just ask google, like, "What is a substitute for white wine?" Well, I still wanted a delicious salad with my meal, so I used Blush Wine Vinaigrette Dressing. My favorite dressing of all time, right next to Poppyseed.

Although it says to put a half cup of maple syrup, don't be afraid!! It is delicious and you can't even tell maple syrup is even in it! I think the white wine masks it a little.

I am really diggin on the red onion these days... it is sweeter and has a different taste than the usual sweet (yellow) onion or the white onion. It's great thinly sliced and broken into rings and thrown into salads, especially tasty with strawberries like this recipe.

Ingredients
Salad to Serve Two (as a meal)

4 cups mixed greens and spinach
1 cup sliced strawberries
¼ thinly sliced red onion
½ log crumbled goat cheese

Candied Walnuts/Pecans:

1 cup nuts (I mixed varieties, sometimes even Almonds)1 Tablespoon butter1/3 cup brown sugar1 tsp Cajun seasoning

Maple Poppyseed Dressing:

½ cup white wine vinegar
½ cup maple syrup
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
Pinch of salt½ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/3 cup poppy seeds

Directions:

Salad: combine ingredients - easy!

Candied Nuts:

1. Toast in a hot frying pan about 2-3 minutes
2. Add butter, brown sugar and Cajun seasoning (I know random – but the salt and heat is masked, but still adds something)
3. Allow everything to melt and stir with a wooden spoon.
4. Before mixture begins to burn poor nuts out onto a silpad to cool, separate with the spoon as much as possible to avoid clumps
   

Dressing:

1. Put everything except for the EVOO in a food processor/blender and blend – slowly adding ½ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2. Mix until emulsified; add 1/3 cup poppy seeds – blend again.

Combine salad, nuts and dressing, top with grilled chicken if you like meat and enjoy!

(http://bakergirlcreations.blogspot.com/2008/05/california-spring-salad.html)