Kevin's Salad Dressing:

First, reduce some balsamic vinegar in a skillet with a whole clove of garlic in the pan. You don't need to take it all the way to a syrup, just a bit to bring out the sweetness. Take out the garlic once the vinegar's done, and let it all cool.

Get some pecans and put them in another skillet with just the tiniest bit of butter, plus a good amount of sugar (probably 2/3 as much sugar as pecans by weight). Cook them all together until the sugar gets just barely golden brown. Then toss in a small amount of white wine, and cook it until it's all nice and candied.

You can also caramelise some onions, if you really want a sweet, rich salad. I like to do that, plus adding a few paper-thin purple onion slices.

Now put the candied pecans on the salad with some shaved parmeggiano-reggiano if you've got it, pour the balsamic reduction over the top, then add olive oil as wanted.

You can improvise from that, but that's the basic idea. (The old recipe, I think, just combined the oil and vinegar and sugar, and the pecans were separate).