The actual salad is extremely simple, but the dressing is something of a production number. I don't make this as often as I'd like because it takes a bit of effort. The raspberry vinegar is adapted from a Michel Roux recipe in his book "Sauces". If you're not feeling like taking a couple of days to make salad dressing, a storebought raspberry vinegar will work just fine here.

I'm not sure that the carb counts from MasterCook are accurate; it counts the entire amount of raspberries in the vinegar, when in fact they are just macerated and then discarded. (Although I want to try using the leftover mash sometime as the base for a pork roast stuffing... the finished vinegar would be excellent to deglaze the pan with too!) So I'd be willing to think that the actual carb count for this dish is actually a whole lot lower than shown.


* Exported from MasterCook *

Spinach Salad

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 head spinach leaves -- washed
4 ounces gorgonzola cheese -- crumbled
1/4 cup slivered almonds -- toasted
8 tablespoons Raspberry Cognac Vinegar


Thoroughly wash and chop spinach leaves

Toss with remaining ingredients

Serve immediately

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Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 208 Calories; 14g Fat (63.2% calories from fat); 8g Protein; 10g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 25mg Cholesterol; 406mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 1 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 1/2 Fruit; 2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.


*****


* Exported from MasterCook *

Raspberry Cognac Vinegar

Recipe By :Michel Roux
Serving Size : 32 Preparation Time :1:30
Categories : Sauces Seasonings

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
3 1/2 pounds fresh raspberries
5 cups white wine vinegar
2/3 cup sugar substitute
1 cup cognac

Place half the fruit and vinegar in a glass bowl. Cover with dish towel and leave in a cool place 24 hours.

Press juice through a fine mesh strainer, being sure not to allow any seeds or pulp through.

Add remaining fruit to the extracted liquid and cover as before, for an additional 24 hours.

Strain fruit as before.

Place the extracted liquid, sugar and cognac in a double boiler. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and gently simmer at 195 for one hour.

Cool in a glass container.

Store up to six months.

Source:
"Sauces"
Yield:
"4 cups"
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Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 53 Calories; trace Fat (6.8% calories from fat); trace Protein; 7g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 8mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Fruit; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

Wow, sounds yummy. I love most any combo of greens, cheese and nuts. I bet even my non-lc family would like this one. thanks. bill

hi Scott,

Now that it's all in the past, I can state here that you got MY vote for August RoM

I have a half-batch of the raspberry cognac vinegar brewing .. it's only a few days old but smells and tastes awesome. Think I'm going to make a BIG batch to bottle up for gift-giving IMHO, it will take at least a month to mellow and become "finished".

I didn't have cognac ... too expensive. I used the more "common" VSOP Napolean Brandy.

Like you, I'm not certain that the carb count is accurate. I'm intending to count as 1g per Tbsp. OTOH, this stuff is pretty potent; a little goes a long way .. just like balsamic vinegar.

Regardless; it's a winner to me


Doreen

Glad you liked it!

The first time I made this was with fresh fall raspberries, and some really good cognac I had lying around. I cooked it down a bit extra and it made a thick syrupy brew that actually had to be thinned a bit for dressing--the flavor was too potent right out of the bottle!

I made a full-sized batch that year just for holiday baskets; it was very well received! It's almost too late for this season's berries, but I just might take the time anyhow--the kids have discovered the spinach salad and this would make a huge difference over that storebought Cucina dressing.

Well I confess ... I used frozen berries . But they were locally picked, and IQF frozen.

To tell the truth, I'm contemplating making the next batch with a combination of raspberries and blackberries ....... just to give a nice colour variation


Doreen