We would never want to mess with your turkey, believe us. We are sure you have that one down pat. We’re here to suggest you make this easy and colorful salad as a crunchy, tangy contrast to all the rich gravy, stuffing and sweet potato casserole on your plate. It’ll be a bit like a palate cleanser and is just simply delicious.
And yes, you could throw the ingredients in a bowl, but it looks so much more inviting if you layer the ingredients on a pretty platter. It lets each ingredient shine and is a total eye pleaser.
This serves about 8 people and can easily be doubled. If you do double it, we would suggest using two platters.
Ingredients:
1 7 oz. bag of pre-washed arugula
1 large shallot
5 radishes
1 pint of cherry or grape tomatoes
1/2 cup of pine nuts
1 small bunch of chives
4 tablespoons of unfiltered apple juice
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup of sherry vinegar
2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon of salt
2 small cloves of garlic, minced
Freshly ground pepper
Put the apple juice, olive oil, sherry vinegar, mustard, salt, garlic and ten good twists out of a pepper grinder into a bowl and whisk everything together with a fork until it’s well mixed. Alternatively, you can also put all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and give it a good pulsing, this will make it nice and creamy. Set aside.
Put the pine nuts in a medium size frying pan large enough to have all the nuts in a single layer. Turn the heat on medium low and toast them until they are golden to medium brown, stirring frequently to prevent them from burning. Once they have the color you want, immediately transfer them to a plate to prevent them from browning any further. Set aside.
On a platter (mine is 18 inches long), arrange the arugula so it is evenly distributed. Cut both ends off the shallot and take the first layer of skin off, then cut it in half. Holding the flat side of the shallot down on the cutting board, cut thin slivers crosswise, so you have small half moons. Distribute those evenly on top of the arugula. Trim the stem and root off each radish and use a box grater to grate them into a bowl. Distribute the radishes evenly on the salad. Cut the tomatoes lengthwise into quarters and guess what? Distribute evenly! Then sprinkle the pine nuts over the salad.
To top it off, take the chives in a bunch and snip small bits off the bunch with a pair of kitchen scissors, making sure you get a good bit of chives all over the salad. Just before serving, drizzle the dressing all over. This is a good amount of dressing, because I like my salad drenched. If you prefer a lighter touch, I would go with about 3/4 of the recipe.