January 20: Apple Pecan Salad

My mother was raised in BC's Okanagan Valley, on an orchard, and she passed on her love of fruit to me. Every fall, we made a trip to Mom's old stomping grounds and stocked up on apples and pears, potatoes, onions and squash to fill our fruit cellar. I remember many a dark winter's evening when I took an empty bowl and scrunched through the snow to fill it with apples, singing to keep the monsters away.

I have to describe the cellar, because I think my Dad is a genius! On our hobby farm here in Williams Lake, my mom planted gardens (LOTS of gardens!) and my dad build a garden shed. It looked like a cute little house, but it was much more! In the floor was a trap door, and when you lifted it, there was a ladder going down into a hole. It was a square hole, about 10 feet deep and 5 feet to a side. If memory serves me right, it had concrete walls. The pump for our deep-drilled well was installed at the bottom, and stacked all around the walls were wooden apple boxes. There was a simple light fixture with a pull-chain, and in the coldest part of winter, there was a single heat lamp providing just enough warmth to keep the frost away.

One of the ways we loved to eat apples was in a salad, sometimes alone, and sometimes with nuts. If my mom asked me to make the salad for dinner, this was my first choice. I always felt like I was pulling one over on my parents, because it was like having dessert for dinner. I've added a little twist or two-- the apple cider vinegar really punches up the flavour-- but this is essentially the same salad I made when I was 11. It is equally good as a side dish or a dessert.

Recipe:
1 apple for each person you are serving, raw pecans (about 3 halves per apple).
Break or coarsely chop pecans, toast in the oven and let them cool.Choose crispy apples of whatever type you prefer. (These are Royal Galas, preferred by my stomach for their low acidity, and also very tasty.) Wash, core and chop them, leaving the peel on. Toss with dressing and serve.

Dressing: 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, 1 teaspoon sugar. (This makes enough for about 5 apples.)