Recipe Success - Warm Wilted Winter Greens

Heyo!  I wanted to share a recent recipe experiment that went very well and pulled me slightly out of my comfort zone.  I am kind of weird about my salads - for the most part, I prefer "savory" salads as opposed to "fruity" salads.

As an example, when picking between a spinach salad with roasted beets or a spinach salad with strawberries, I would always go for the beets.  And I have historically detested Waldorf salad, or any salad with mandarin oranges or candied walnuts or anything sweet in them.

Anyone else that way?  No?  Just me?  I'm weird...I get it.

Unfortunately for Marc, he looooves fruity salads, and I am usually in charge of the salad-making at our house.  He's never complained, but deep down, I know he's itching for me to throw some grapes into my leafy meals.

So, for our New Year's dinner, I decided to give a new recipe a try, and I am very excited to say that not only did Marc love it, but so did I!  This might actually make a reappearance for Thanksgiving or Christmas next year =)

Warm Wilted Winter Greens

Recipe courtesy of Tyler Florence (we love him)

Ingredients: 

• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 pint walnuts, for garnish 
• *we used sliced almonds, since Marc doesn't like walnuts...weirdo
• 3 bunches assorted winter greens (such as Swiss chard, radicchio, or escarole), washed, stemmed, and torn into pieces 
• *we used escarole
• 1 tablespoon grainy mustard 
• *I was scared of this ingredient, for some reason, but it is key!
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds, for garnish
• Parmesan shavings, for garnish
• 1 shallot, chopped, for garnish

Directions: 
Cook honey and balsamic together over medium-high heat in a large saute pan, about 5 minutes. Toast walnuts in a small skillet; set aside to cool.

Pile greens on a platter. Stir mustard into balsamic-honey dressing, then whisk in about 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil; pour over greens. Season greens with salt and pepper and garnish with walnuts, pomegranate seeds, shavings of Parmesan, and shallot.

It sounds a little tricky, but it was fantastic.  Look at me, expanding my salad repertoire =)

Enjoy!