Arugula salad with caramelized walnuts and crispy ham

You can give a salad a twist in the easiest way. I highly encourage you to try this rocket salad with toasted and caramelized walnuts and raisins and crispy ham , together with apple it is a great combination. And those toasted and caramelized walnuts... Oh, my God! They are delicious!

Even though you have to caramelize the nuts and raisins, the preparation of all this is very fast: the vinaigrette is ready in just a few minutes, and the assembly of the dish takes one more minute. I'm not kidding! As for the crispy ham, you can also sauté it in the pan, or you can decide to prepare it in express mode, in 30 seconds in the microwave. Do you dare to try it?

Ingredients (for 2 people)

• 40 gr of arugula
• 1 firm Golden apple
• A good handful of nuts
• A handful of sultanas
• A generous spoonful of sugar
• 5 tablespoons of oil (EVOO)
• 3 tablespoons of Modena vinegar
• A few slices of Serrano or Iberian ham

Preparation

First we prepare the toasted walnut vinaigrette, which comes out delicious:

1. Place the walnuts and raisins in a skillet over low heat. When the pan starts to heat up, add the tablespoon of sugar and mix by stirring the pan.
2. When the sugar starts to melt, the raisins change color (they turn light brown and swell) and the nuts look toasted (and the sugar shines around them), we turn off the heat and immediately add the oil. Stir with a wooden spoon and let it cool.
3. When it is warm, add the balsamic vinegar.

We make the crispy ham:

You can make crispy ham in three different ways:

1) Put it directly into a frying pan and heat it. You will see that it will lose its fat and become drier. Remove it from the pan when it is done.

2) In the dehydrator , which, after all, is what it does, it dries out. It is not a method that you can apply if what you want is to eat the salad right away, but it is something to keep in mind whenever you have some space (or a tray) left when you are using the dehydrator for other purposes. Take advantage of having it running to make crispy ham and have it for lunch or dinner (surely as a decoration for creamy dishes, toast, in salads, to accompany grilled fish... you will use it more often than you can imagine now).

3) In the microwave : although I'm not a big fan of using it, it is certainly a great help when drying Serrano or Iberian ham: put the slices of ham on a plate and put it on medium speed in the microwave. The time will depend on the amount you put in, but it will be ready in less than a minute. Personally, for this salad, I leave it dry but a little flexible. Don't go too far from the microwave and remove it when it's done.

We prepare the salad:

1. Using a mandolin , cut the apple into slices of about 3 mm.
2. On the plate, place a generous portion of arugula, then arrange the apple slices, pour the vinaigrette, with a generous amount of raisins and walnuts all over the plate and finally top with the crispy ham slices.
3. Enjoy it. I hope very much!

Le Creuset cast iron skillet , WMF XL serving spoon , Laura Ashley mixing bowl