Red and Green Christmas Salad©

We always spent Christmas Eve at our home when my boys were little because the boys went with their father on Christmas Day. We always invited guests for dinner.  Because I was teaching in a graduate school at the time, I always invited students who were at loose ends and couldn't go home for the holidays for some reason, and friends who were considered part of our "family" and spent every holiday with us.  Our traditional Christmas Eve festivities began about three in the afternoon.  We brought out the Appetizers of Carmelized Baked Brie on thinly sliced French Bread Crostini with slivers of Granny Smith apples, Shrimp Cocktail, and Spinach, Mushroom and Artichoke Dip.  After we all went outside and ran around the block about six times, we sat down to a dinner of this Salad, Roasted Beef Tenderloin with a Dijon Brown Sauce surrounded by Roasted Red Potatoes and Marinated Mushrooms, Glazed Carrots, and Homemade Parker House Rolls.  Obviously, for one evening, we weren't worried about butter, red meat, or carbs.  I created this salad in 1986.  It was a perfect light accompaniment to the heavier beef, and the warm dressing just enhanced the cozy feeling from the fire blazing in the fireplace.   A lovely glass of Cabernet or Merlot completed the meal.  For dessert, we enjoyed homemade Christmas cookies (all family recipes) and Peppermint Ice Cream with homemade hot fudge sauce.  Every year the family wanted to know if I was making this salad, as if I would somehow change the menu that had become a tradition. Who needs gifts?  Our family and friends were all we needed.

©2012
      Kathy's Red and Green
            Christmas Salad©

Ingredients

Salad

10 cups washed, torn red and green romaine lettuce leaves (or ½ red romaine lettuce and ½ baby spinach leaves, torn into bite-sized pieces)

1 medium size ripe avocado, pitted, peeled diced into ½ in. square chunks
1 large, ripe red pear, unpeeled, diced into ½ in. square chunks
½ c. dried cherries or cranberries
½ c. sugared walnuts (optional, recipe follows)*
1 c. warm champagne vinegar dressing

Dressing

1 c. champagne vinegar

2 Tbsp. extra fine granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 Tbsp. ½ and ½
2 c. olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions

Salad

1.   Make sure your greens are dry by running them through your salad spinner.
2.   Place the leaves in a large bowl and top with the other salad ingredients, except the dressing.
3.   Toss well and place in refrigerator until ready to serve (no more than 1 hour).

4.   Pour about ¾ to 1 c. of the warm dressing over the salad before serving.

 

Dressing:

1.   Combine vinegar, sugar, flour and mustard in a small saucepan over    medium heat and stir constantly until simmering.
2.   Turn heat to low and gradually whisk in the egg and the ½ and ½.  (Make sure your heat is on low so that you don't end up with scrambled eggs in your dressing.)
3.    Whisk in the oil slowly so that the dressing does not separate later.
4.    Remove from heat.
5.    Season with salt and pepper to taste.


Sugared Walnuts (courtesy of Martha Stewart)

Ingredients

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 teaspoon Kosher or course salt

2 cups walnut halves (about 8 ounces)

Directions

1.   Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine sugar and salt in a large bowl.
2.   Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil. Add walnuts, and blanch 2 minutes. Drain, and immediately toss with sugar-salt mixture.
3.   Transfer walnuts to a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and bake, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 10 minutes.  Remove the nuts and parchment paper from the pan.  Let cool.  Store in a tightly covered container.
 

©1986, 2012 Red and Green Christmas Salad by Kathy Striggow
©2012 by Kathy Striggow