Late Summer Salad with Plum Dressing

Ingredients for the salad: 

I'm not including quantity on this one. I find myself changing the ratios every time we make that salad, and frankly, it should depend on what you have taste for and what your guests like.

• Mixed greens 
• Red and golden beets (if you find candy-striped one, use it as well) peeled, and shaved into a longish strips. Word of advice: use gloves, especially for the red beets.
• Persian cucumbers, thin sliced
•  Cherry tomatoes, halved
• A mix of raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries.
•  Chevre (fresh goat cheese)
• Toasted walnuts
  

Directions:  

Layer your salad using your imagination. I usually start with the greens as a bed and then layering the cucumbers and the tomatoes, followed by the golden beets, red beets, sprinkling the dry fruit and the nuts and crumbling the Chevre on top.
If you are not consuming the salad immediately, keep the red beets, the cheese, and the nuts separate until just before serving. The red beets, given the chance, will color the whole salad red; the cheese is salty and will change the texture of the salad given enough time; and you would like to keep the nuts crunchy, if you put them in the salad too soon, they will get soft.




Ingredients for the dressing: 

• 6 prunes 
• 1 cup of boiling water
• 1/2 shallot - minced 
• 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar 
• 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
•  2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup of vegetable oil - we recommend sunflower seed oil
  

Directions:

1.  Steep the prunes in the cup of hot water for about 5min
2. Add the shallot, the softened prunes, the balsamic vinegar and the sherry vinegar in a blender and start blending.
3. Slowly drizzle in the olive and vegetable oil and blend until thickened.
4. Thin to desired consistency by adding a few tablespoons of the water you used to steep the prunes.
5. Chill before using.