Sunday, January 20, 2008

Mandarin Orange Salad

From Pillsbury and Tested in Alice’s Kitchen
Serves 4-6

This is my husband's favorite salad. I suspect it's because of the sweetness and crunchiness of the sugared almonds. When I make this for guests, I prepare the dressing and the almonds, prep and chill the onions and celery and wash and spin the greens all in advance. To save time, I drain and chill the mandarin oranges. Then all I have to do before serving is toss it together! All of the ingredients can be found at the Lost River Market & Deli.

Dressing
1/3 cup vegetable oil
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup white vinegar
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leafed parsley
½ teaspoon Kosher salt
½ teaspoon hot pepper sauce
Dash of freshly ground pepper

Combine all dressing ingredients in a jar with a tightly fitted lid. Shake well. Chill at least an hour for the flavors to blend.

Salad
½ cup slivered almonds
3 Tablespoons sugar
8 cups mixture of fresh lettuces and spinach
1 cup sliced celery
½ cup sliced green onions
1 (11 oz.) can mandarin orange segments, drained

In a heavy skillet, cook almonds and sugar over medium-low heat until sugar melts and coats almonds. Stir frequently. Pour onto foil and let cool. Break sugar-coated almonds apart. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the rest of the salad ingredients, except the oranges. Toss. Add the oranges and the almonds, and dressing and toss gently.

2 comments:

Marimar said...

Great salad. Easy to make. Loved the combination of how the sweetness of the almonds and mandarins is different from a typical salad. My husband also loved it.

Alice said...

I'm happy the salad passed your hubby test too! If you like the sweet with the crunch, I'd also highly recommend the "Lovely Autumn Salad" on this blog. It's got the sweetness of the sweet potatoes with just a touch of honey in the dressing, and the crunch from the toasted walnuts. Thanks for letting me know you tried the salad. It's nice to know people are actually trying the recipes!