Nuts About Berries Salad
Nuts About Berries Salad - a spin off from a famous salad. Delicious, healthy and easy to make!
Nuts About Berries Salad - a spin off from a famous salad. Delicious, healthy and easy to make!
- Carbohydrate 12.681392926751 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 16.865828904073 g
- Fiber 2.10327915899374 g
- Protein 2.88726444419637 g
- Saturated Fat 2.0637006132249 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (89g)
- Sodium 5843.12422394742 mg
- Sugar 10.5781137677573 g
- Trans Fat 0.631010778169759 g
- Calories 207 calories
Step-by-step
- Wash your salad and berries and set aside.
- *Almonds:*In a small frying pan, combine your almonds and sugar. Cook on medium/low heat and watch closely. Keep stirring as the sugar begins to melt, to keep it from burning. Once sugar has coated the nuts, sprinkle with cinnamon and remove from heat and place on foil to cool.
- *Dressing:*Combine all of the ingredients in a blender or mason jar and mix until combined. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Shake just before serving.
- For the salad, layer the spinach, berries and nuts and top with dressing.
Standard green salads rely on water-heavy vegetables and cold vinaigrettes, whereas this preparation builds contrast through warm, sugar-coated almonds and delicate soft fruit. Raw greens wilt rapidly under heavy acid, requiring specific mechanical steps to preserve texture until service. Standard non-stick skillets conduct heat too aggressively for dry-melting sugar; heavy cast iron or stainless steel pans provide the stable thermal mass needed to liquefy sucrose without scorching. Cook the sliced almonds and two tablespoons of sugar over medium-low heat, maintaining constant motion with a heat-resistant silicone spatula until the sugar transforms from dry crystals into an amber coating. Sprinkle cinnamon over the nuts the exact second the pan leaves the heat, then immediately transfer the mixture onto a sheet of aluminum foil to halt the cooking process. Letting caramelized nuts cool in contact with metal or standard paper will cause sticking and ruin the crunch.
Emulsifying oil and vinegar without a high-speed blender requires a tightly sealed mason jar, which relies on kinetic force rather than mechanical blades to shear the fat droplets. Combine the red wine vinegar, remaining sugar, salt, dry mustard, poppy seeds, and olive oil inside the jar, shaking vigorously for 45 seconds until the mixture thickens into a cohesive opaque suspension. Mustard acts as a natural surfactant, lowering surface tension to bridge the gap between oil and water phases. Prepare this dressing up to three days in advance and refrigerate it in a sealed glass container, but allow it to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before shaking and pouring. Freezing is unsuitable for this dish because frozen berries rupture and release excess water upon thawing, completely destroying the structural integrity of the fresh spinach leaves.
