Thanksgiving Dinner on a Salad Plate:<br/> Turkey Salad Supper with Green Beans & Dried Cranberries

Thanksgiving Dinner on a Salad Plate:
Turkey Salad Supper with Green Beans & Dried Cranberries

Save this recipe for after Thanksgiving, when leftover turkey is on hand. It's a perfect post-holiday turkey salad supper, harkening back to the big feast but light and healthy, a welcome respite after the holiday's abundance.

Happy Thanksgiving, All! May we all enjoy it in real life, not online!

Turkey Salad Supper with Green Beans & Dried Cranberries

A THANKSGIVING PRAYER

"Let Us Give Thanks" by Max Coots

Let us give thanks for a bounty of people:

For children who are our second planting, and though they grow like weeds and the wind too soon blows them away, may they forgive us our cultivation and fondly remember where their roots are.

Let us give thanks:

For generous friends with hearts as big as hubbards and smiles as bright as their blossoms;

For feisty friends as tart as apples;

For continuous friends, who, like scallions and cucumbers, keep reminding us that we've had them;

For crotchety friends, as sour as rhubarb and as indestructible;

For handsome friends, who are as gorgeous as eggplants and as elegant as a row of corn, and the others, as plain as potatoes and so good for you;

For funny friends, who are as silly as Brussels sprouts and as amusing as Jerusalem artichokes, and serious friends, as complex as cauliflowers and as intricate as onions;

For friends as unpretentious as cabbages, as subtle as summer squash, as persistent as parsley, as delightful as dill, as endless as zucchini, and who, like parsnips, can be counted on to see you through the winter;

For old friends nodding like sunflowers in the evening-time and young friends coming on as fast as radishes;

For loving friends, who wind around us like tendrils and hold us, despite our blights, wilts and witherings;

And, finally, for those friends now gone, who like gardens past that have been harvested, but who fed us in their times that we might have life thereafter;

For all these we give thanks.

ALANNA’s TIPS I think of this as “Thanksgiving on a salad plate” – so feel free to adjust, it’s a classic 'concept recipe', ready and willing for adaptation.

One big lesson from the World’s Best Green Bean Casserole is the importance of salt when cooking green beans. Allow 8 cups of water and a tablespoon of table salt for a pound of fresh green beans.

Good frozen green beans would be perfect here. No cleaning, no snapping! But no skimping on the salt for the cooking water!

QUICK SUPPER:
TURKEY SALAD SUPPER with
GREEN BEANS & DRIED CRANBERRIES

Hands-on time: 35 minutes
Time to table: 35 minutes
Serves 4

Well-salted water (see TIPS)
1 pound green beans, stem ends snapped (see TIPS)
Ice water

1 teaspoon good mustard
1 tablespoon good balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 pound cooked turkey, chopped
2 ribs celery, halved lengthwise and cut sharply on the diagonal
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup dried cranberries (or leftover cranberry sauce)
Fresh herbs – parsley, thyme, oregano

Leaf lettuce

GREEN BEANS Bring the salted water to a boil in a large covered pot. Drop in the beans, return to a boil and cook for about 4 minutes or until fully cooked but still bright green. Drain and drop into ice water until cold, drain again, then dry between layers of paper towel.

BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE Whisk together all the ingredients. Drop the cooked beans into the dressing to soak until ready to combine.

SALAD Stir together all ingredients.

TO SERVE Line plates with leaf lettuce. Lift the beans out of the vinaigrette and arrange on the plates. Stir the remaining vinaigrette into the turkey mixture, taste and adjust the seasoning if needed; arrange on the plates. Serve and savor!

NUTRITION ESTIMATE Per Serving: 226 Calories; 5g Tot Fat; 1g Sat Fat; 48mg Cholesterol; 1350mg Sodium; 23g Carb; 6g Fiber; 12g Sugar; 23g Protein; Weight Watchers Old Points 4 & PointsPlus 5

Adapted from one of a handful of favorite new (to me) cookbooks this year, The Way We Cook by Sheryl Julian and Julie Riven

My Disclosure Promise

Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences.

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What's Your Favorite Thanksgiving Leftover?

Mine just might be the turkey carcass, for making turkey stock! Don't throw the carcass away, here's Turkey Stock. I actually prep the roasting pan (or the stockpot, if not roasting the bones before making the stock) before the turkey comes out of the oven. That means even as the meat is being carved, bits and pieces can be tossed right into the roasting pan for dealing with after dinner. No time to mess with the carcass now? Toss it all in a big garbage bag and freeze for later.

And yours? Leave a comment!