Classic Salad with​​ Chocolate Vinaigrette

Candied Pecans:Candied Pecans Ingredients:
3 cups raw soaked and dehydrated pecans
½ cup maple syrup
1 tbsp. cinnamon powder
¼ tsp. Himalayan sea salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
Place the syrup, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt into a measuring cup. Whisk it all together. Place the pecans into a large mixing bowl. Pour the sauce over the pecans and mix together with a spoon. Take two dehydrator trays with teflex sheets. Spread the pecans evenly over the sheets. Make sure they are lying flat with plenty of room to breathe. Place into the dehydrator at 115 degrees for 8 hours.

Chocolate Vinaigrette Dressing:
Dressing Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups extra virgin cold pressed olive oil
5 tbsp. balsamic vinaigrette vinegar
4 tbsp. maple syrup
1/4 tsp. Himalayan pink salt
1 tbsp. grated ginger (microplane grater)
1 cup organic cacao powder
1 tsp. red pepper powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 cup filtered water

Directions:
Place all of the ingredients into a Vitamix and blend until creamy smooth.
Makes 2 1/2 cups.

Salad
Salad Ingredients:
8 cups organic baby lettuce mix
1 ½ cups of finely chopped dried pitted tart Montmorency cherries (Trader Joe’s)
1 ½ cups of finely chopped dried slab apricots Blenheim Variety (Trader Joe’s)
1 ½ cups chopped candied pecans
6 medium to large sized zucchini
4 small sized zucchini
2 large heads of radicchio

Garnish:
Garnish Preparation Directions:
Wash and rinse the radicchio. Discard the outermost leaf on each. Gently cut the core out of the radicchio with a sharp paring knife. Gently roll back the tip of the outermost radicchio leaves one at a time. Do this on both heads of the radicchio. Make sure not to break the leaves while removing them from the head. You will need 6 whole leaves, 3 from each head. Make sure that you save 6 large leaves. Chop the dried cherries to small pieces. Chop the apricots into fine pieces. Chop the pecans into medium pieces. Place the cherries, apricots, and pecans into a mixing bowl and mix them evenly. Set Aside. Take the baby greens and chop them into medium sized pieces. Take the remainder of the radicchio and chop it until you have 1 ½ cups of chopped radicchio. Place the baby greens and radicchio into a large mixing bowl and toss it all together. Set aside. Take one large zucchini and a Spiralife spiral slicer. Use the straight blade and spiral slice the zucchini. Set aside. Take 6 toothpicks and a sharp paring knife. Take 3 small zucchini. Cut them in half lengthwise. Lay them with the cut side down on a chopping block. Take the paring knife and insert it just under the skin of the zucchini. Run the knife down the center of the top, peeling off the top and flattening the top surface. See the photo for reference. Make an angled slice on one end by placing the edge of the knife on one end and the other end about ¾” away from the other side. Then slice the rest of the zucchini into uniform 1/16” thick slices. Run the toothpick through the slices about ¼” away from the skin closest to you. Repeat the procedure until all the fans are created. Offset the slices from each other to create the fans. Refer to the photos if needed.

Garnish Ingredient Assembly:
Take the chopping blocks and separate them into 6 different sections. The reason for this is that you will be placing the garnish ingredients into separate sections for each salad serving. This recipe makes 6 servings. Take the spiralizer and 1 zucchini. Spiral slice the zucchini gently so that the spiral does not break apart. Stabilize the end of the spiral slicer on the chopping block with one hand while turning the zucchini with the other hand. Hold the slicer still so that the spiral does not break. After you are finished, uncurl the spiral and form a small circular bed with it. Refer to the photo. Repeat the procedure 5 more times. Place one spiral in each section of your chopping block. Cut a 4 inch strip from each of the spiral pieces. Take your paring knife and cut a zig zag pattern ¼” away from the edge. Refer to the photo. Repeat for all 6 strips. Set aside in each section. Take six large radicchio leaves and place one of them into each section with the zucchini. You should have six sections.

Plate Assembly:
Take six decorative plates. Take the pastry bag and fill it up about one quarter full of chocolate dressing. Take the scissors and cut the very tip off of the pastry bag. Cut 1/16th of an inch only. The stream must be very small in size. Start in the center of the decorative plate and make a swirl pattern toward the outside of the plate. Make 3 swirls before letting it trail off the edge of the plate. Then place 3 dots decoratively. Place the remainder of the dressing back into the Vitamix and discard the pastry bag. Refer to the photo. Take the large zucchini spiral and fan it out across the plate over the chocolate swirl. Make sure not to smear the chocolate swirl while doing this. Refer to the photo. Set the large radicchio leaf on top of the second curl of the zucchini fan. Refer to the photo. Place the chopped lettuce and radicchio mix into the center of the large radicchio leaf. Cover the whole top of the lettuce mix with the cherry apricot pecan mix. Take the zigzag edge of the zucchini strip and curl it. Refer to the photo. Place a zucchini fan that you made and put one on the center of each salad on the top. Drape the small zucchini curl over the end of the toothpick that holds the fan together. Refer to the photo. Take a fresh pastry bag and fill it with approximately with 3 inches of dressing. Cut an extremely small hole, 1/32nd of an inch, in the end of the bag in order to place very small dots on the zucchini. Take a toothpick and set aside. Place a small amount of dressing into a small bowl. Take the pastry bag and place 3 dots on the bottom of the swirl that is resting on the toothpick that holds the fan together. Next place 4 dots on the top of the first piece of the fan. Place 4 dots on top of every other piece of the zucchini fan going back from the first one that is next to the swirl. After finishing that, take a toothpick, dip it into the bowl with the dressing and place dots on the center of each piece of the zucchini fan. Refer to the photo to finish the chocolate dressing garnish. Place the remaining dressing and place 6 small bowls for serving with each salad.

Makes 6 servings. Best if consumed immediately.