Lemon Tarts with Chocolate Shells / Spinach Salad

Tonight we have plans for dinner with Beeper and I'm bringing dessert and the salad. We chose Lemon Tarts with Chocolate Shells for dessert, so I made the dough this afternoon and baked the shells. Then I went next door and picked lemons from my neighbor's tree for the filling. Afterwards, I went to the Culver City Farmer's market and picked up spinach (the spinach in the photo is from we repeated this the following night!), walnuts, gorgonzola dressing, prosciutto, and a pear. We headed up to Simi Valley and she had made Coq au Vin and fingerling potatoes. X made French 75s while we finished the prep. I toasted the prosciutto and carmelized the walnuts. Then I prepared the lemon filling from eggs, lemon zest, sugar, and butter. That set in the shells while we ate. Well, while we stuffed ourselves! Everything was so good we all had two helpings!!

(Lemon Tarts with Chocolate Shells Recipe from "Book of Tarts" by Maury Rubin; Spinach Salad Recipe by us--see below)

Spinach Salad

• Cheese Marzetti Gorgonzola Cheese Dressing (find in the refrigerated section)
• 1 bag baby spinach
• 1/4 C dried cranberries or cherries
• 1 bartlett pear, thinly sliced
• 1/4 C chopped walnuts, caramelized (see below)
• 2 strips toasted prosciutto (see below)
• 1 T brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment and lay out the prosciutto strips. Bake 10 minutes until slightly crisp. Remove and let cool, then blot with paper towel to degrease. 
2. Lay out a sheet of parchment paper approximately 4” wide. In a small fry pan over medium heat, toast the walnuts for 1 minute. Add 1 T brown sugar and let melt for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula until the sugar has melted and coated the nuts. Remove nuts to cool on the parchment. Immediately pour a cup of water into the pan and place back over medium heat, stir for 1 minute and rinse. 
3. Place the spinach, cranberries, and pear in a bowl. Cut the prosciutto into 1” strips and add to bowl. Toss thorougly with 1 heaping tablespoon of dressing. Sprinkle caramelized walnuts on top.