Almonds being “candied”

Today I have a spin on another recipe from Chef Tim McGrath of Cook’s Gathering. Tim made a lovely Mixed Greens and Stilton salad with candied pecans and a citrus-sherry vinegar dressing.  What made the dressing remarkable was the fact that the dressing’s base was made from the syrupy liquid the pecans were candied in, ingenious!  The moment I tasted the dressing I imagined how wonderful it would be on fresh, hot green beans or sugar snap peas.  The next day in class, Tim suggested using the dressing on freshly steamed asparagus – great minds think alike!

What makes this dressing special besides the syrup base from the candied nuts, is the sherry vinegar. Sherry vinegar is from Spain. It has an assertive yet smooth taste and is perfect for deglazing pans to create flavorful sauces, especially those for meats such as beef, lamb, or duck. You will have a hard time finding sherry vinegar in most regular grocery stores, but it is readily available at gourmet grocers, Cost Plus World Market, Sur la Table, Williams-Sonoma, and other food specialty stores.

I’ve changed up Tim’s original recipe a little by candying almonds instead of pecans for this version, which I think will compliment steamed or blanched vegetables a bit better. I am again using sugar snap peas since I have a pound left over from the 2-pound package I purchased at Costco for the post a couple of days ago, but mix it up and feel free to use green beans, asparagus, snow peas, broccoli, or cauliflower.
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