Genna Cortese of Pueblo took first place in the Colorado State Fair Kids/Great American Spam Championship. Spam alternative: diced cooked turkey or chicken. Serves 6.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lime, squeezed
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 can turkey Spam, diced
- 1 cup fresh pineapple (halve fresh pineapple lenthwise, carfeully cut out flesh, leaving a “boat” for serving the salad)
- 8 ounces snow peas
- 1 cup finely chopped celery
- 1 (8-ounce) can sliced water chestnuts, drained
- 1 medium red pepper, seeded and cut into small, thin strips
- 2 ounces chopped and toasted macadamia nuts
Ingredients
In a small bowl, mix olive oil, lime juice and honey. Put in fridge to cool. Dice the turkey Spam into small chunks and fry in a large pan on medium heat with pineapple until browned. Boil water in a medium pot on high heat and blanch the snow peas for about one minute.
Remove from water, drain and chop into small slivers. Chop celery, water chestnuts and red pepper. Set aside.
Chop the nuts and toast them until brown and there is a mild nutty smell in the air. Toss together the Spam, pineapple, snow peas, celery, water chestnuts, red pepper and 1.5 ounces of macadamia nuts. Pour dressing over mixture and stir so that everything is coated well.
To serve: Pour salad into pineapple shell and sprinkle the rest of the nuts over the top.
Wine ideas: Gewurztraminer, with its spicy, tropical fruit flavor and slight sweetness, would be a good match to this fruity salad. Try Handley ($18) or Gundlach Bunschu ($25) from California. —Tara Q. Thomas
