A Hitchcock Family Thanksgiving Tradition
This fresh salad is always on our Thanksgiving table, but it is a salad that can be served any time of the year. Just buy up bags of cranberries and freeze them for year round use!
Leftovers stay crisp so you can enjoy for several days. This salad can be made ahead, in stages a day or so in advance, and then combined right before serving.
Makes 6-8 servings, but easily doubles for a crowd.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups cranberries, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (can be from the green squeeze bottle)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 cup virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 large Granny Smith or crisp apples, cored and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup sliced green onions
coarse sea salt
1 head romaine lettuce, washed, trimmed and crisped between paper towels. Prepare enough to line your bowl.
freshly grated lime peel
Directions
1. Mix cranberries with sugar and put into a covered refrigerator container at least overnight.
2. In a clean lidded jar mix line juice and mustard, add oil. Shake to combine. This can be refrigerated also and brought back to room temperature before using as a marinate in the next step.
3. Marinate walnuts, apples and green onions in dressing mixture for 4 hours (or overnight).
Note: You will not use all of the dressing – so you can save for other salads.
4. When you get ready to serve, line a large bowl with the prepared romaine leaves. Spoon the marinated apple walnut mixture on top of the lettuce. Make an indentation into the apples and spoon the cranberries into the hole.
5. Top it all with freshly grated lime peel.
Note: Flavored olive oil really makes this dressing yummy. I recently used 1/4 cup EVOO along with 1/4 cup lime infused EVOO!
Denise
