Southern Autumn Salad With Creamy Sorghum Dressing

Here's another great salad for cooler months: it's got seared pork cutlets, fresh juicy plums, pepperjelly candied pecans, and sweet roasted candy roaster squash (though butternut squash is fine too).  A delicious and easy addition to your salad repertoire! 

Southern Autumn Salad

Ingredients

Salad

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 4 thin sliced pork cutlets
• 8 cups salad greens of your choice
• 1/2 a candy roast squash, sliced into rings (roughly a pound)
• 4 plums, pitted and sliced
• 1/2 cup dried figs, stems removed and halved
• 1 cup pecans
• 1/2 cup pepper jelly

• Dressing & Marinade

• 3 Tbsp. sorghum syrup
• 3 Tbsp. mayonnaise
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
• salt & pepper, to taste

Serves 3-4
Cook Time: 15 minutes

​Combine all dressing/marinade ingredients and divide in half; save half for the dressing and pour the remaining half into a zip-top bag with the pork cutlets; marinate for at least two hours or overnight.
Preheat a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat, when heated add olive oil.  Remove pork from marinade and pat dry with paper towels; discard marinade.  Sear pork on both sides, then lower the heat and cover until pork reaches 145.  While pork is cooking, heat pepper jelly in a small pan over medium heat; when jelly is liquified add pecans and toss to coat.  Allow pecans to cook for about 5 minutes, but watch for burning.  Spread pecans out on a sheet of parchment paper - they will still be sticky.
Meanwhile, toss salad ingredients together; when pork is done allow to rest for 10 minutes then thinly slice against the grain and toss into salad.  Drizzle with dressing, sprinkle with pepper jelly pecans and serve immediately.