Salad with Roasted Walnuts and Warm Balsamic Dressing

I love the idea of a warmed salad dressing and this one came out great!  I did not want to use the standard warm dressing with bacon, although that would be fabulous, bacon is an ingredient I try to avoid.

Dressing:
1/2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small shallot, finely diced
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1 to 2 Tablespoons dijon mustard
1/4 cup Olive Oil

Heat pan on stove top and add in the 1/2 Tablesppon Olive oil, Saute the garlic and shallot until soft, maybe 5 minutes or so.  Add in the balsamic vinegar and let cook down about 5 minutes. Add in the honey and dijon, and continue to cook another few minutes on low heat.  Remove from heat and pour dressing into a small bowl, then wisk in remaining Olive Oil....I like less oil so only used about 2 Tablespoons at the end instead of 1/4 cup.

For the Salad:
Tear Romain or Green Leaf Lettuce into bite size pieces into a big bowl, add in the chopped roma tomatoes, 1 sliced hard boiled egg, crumbed cheddar cheese, dried cranberries, and roasted walnuts.

To roast the walnuts, heat a small pan on the stove top and add the walnuts. Cook on medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes watching them so they don't burn. You can tell they are done when they start to smell really good. You can also taste one to see if they have gotten that roasted flavor yet.  When done, throw the nuts into the salad. If you do the nuts first, then let them cool in a bowl, and not the pan they were heated in.

These roasted nuts combined with the warm balsamic dressing was a great combination!

Do you have a favorite warm salad dressing?