Salade with caramelized pecans

Pecans:
2/3 cup pecan halves
2 t butter
1 T sugar
1/8 t salt
1/8 t cayenne

Place pecans in a skillet and cover barely with water. Bring to simmer over high heat and drain immediately. Place pecans back in the pan with the rest, cook over med to high heat, stirring until they brown and the mixture caramelizes, then place on a plate to cool.

Salad:
1 very large apple (1/2 lb), pref Russet or Golden Delicious, mixed with 1 T lemon juice to prevent discoloration
8 cups salad greens (pref the white center of curly endive or escarole) cut into 1 1/2-2" pieces, washed and thoroughly dried in a salad drier
3 oz. semi-dry or hard goat cheese, crumbled into pieces of about 1/2"

Dressing:
3 T oil (mixture of walnut or hazelnut and canola)
1 T sherry vinegar
1/4 t salt
1/2 t freshly ground pepper

WAsh apples, cut them into halves, remove cores. Cut into 1/2" slices, stack the slices and cut into 1/2" strips. Mix with lemon juice and set aside.

Wash and dry salad greens. Crumble goat cheese into 1/2" pieces and set aside. Mix together dressing ingredients.

At serving time, toss greens with dressing and arrange on 8 plates. Sprinkle with apple strips, cheese, and pecans. Serve immediately.