Carver's Salad - Baking Bad's Virtual Fall Feast

A little confession....I heard there was a virtual feast being planned by Baking Bad, I wanted to participate, so I asked a friend if she could squirrel me an invite. Despite my lackadaisical blogging patterns, these fantastic bloggers took a chance and let me participate. Thank you and although I don't deserve to rub shoulders with all of you, I more than appreciate you allowing me the opportunity to do so.  

So here we have it a virtual fall feast...the word “feast” brings lots of great images to mind and the one I’m focusing on for this post is a finely set table.

(and hey, I know this type of picture isn't in the preferred style by all the food porn sites 

but I'm really diggin the grain, shadow and subtle color tones)

Growing up, Sunday dinner was a formal affair in my home. Well, formal in that Mom brought out the fine china and the table was formally set with linens, chargers and all the elements that make for an elegant meal. My parents wanted my three brothers, my sister and me to be exposed to the “finer” things in life, formal Sunday dinner was one attempt to tackle this goal. I think they did a pretty good job. We learned to eat with one hand in our lap, how to say, “please pass” and “thank you”. Some us know how to fold fancy napkins and I’m pretty sure we all know which side of the plate our spoon goes on. That however is where our formal training ended. Our topics and manner of discussion could never quite live up to the formality of the occasion. J

There were no defined social boundaries during Sunday dinner. There were no parents and no children, we were contemporaries and [mostly] treated one another as such. No topic was off limits and no point of view was shunned. We were given a stage to articulate our thoughts and sometimes the discussion was animated and loud, sometimes someone left crying and more often, we laughed so hard that someone sprayed beverage out of their mouth (or nose).

It all seems perfectly normal to each of us but every time someone new comes for dinner we are reminded of how skewed our sense of normal really is – AND I LOVE IT! I love it so much that the most important item on my wedding registry was my fine china. I wanted to extend this tradition to my own family. I want my kids to learn how to be open and honest with their thoughts and feelings and I want them to be able to have great memories of the instances that these lessons are learned.

Sure I don’t have a dining room or a place to even pretend that we are somewhere more formal than where we really are, but you know me, I’m not going to let that stop me. What we lack in location we more than make up for in character and [sometimes in] food. J 

This salad is my attempt to introduce my kids to fancy food. Yes, I have to leave off the toasted almonds but the apples and craisins are a hit. The honey cider dressing helps too. 

Bon Appetit!

Carver’s Salad

 Printer-Friendly Version

serves: 8

Ingredients:

1 small bunch baby spinach  (washed, dried and chilled)

1 head romaine lettuce (washed, dried and chilled)

1 head red leaf lettuce (washed, dried and chilled)

1 16 oz. bag raisins

1 cup sliced almonds, *roasted

1 golden delicious apple, sliced or cut into pieces

Honey Cider Dressing:

3 Tablespoons cider vinegar

3 Tablespoons honey

6 Tablespoons mayonnaise

1 Tablespoon dijon mustard

1 ½ Tablespoons finely minced onion

1 ½ Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

¾ Cups Oil 

Directions:

Honey Cider Dressing:

1. In a small microwave safe dish or in a saucepan, heat cider vinegar and honey together until honey dissolves.
2. In small bowl whisk mayonnaise and Dijon mustard together until smooth
3. Add in onion, fresh parsley, honey and cider vinegar then whisk together until combined.
4. Whisk in the oil to emulsify then chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

Salad:

5. In a large salad bowl, toss lettuce, apples, craisins and *roasted almonds. If eating immediately, toss the salad with dressing and serve.

Notes: To toast almonds: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread pre-sliced almonds on a baking sheet in a single layer and put in the oven for 10-20 minutes. Watch them closely to be sure they do not over roast.

Source: Dina’s Diner (unpublished) / family recipe

Gwenevere