Countdown to Thanksgiving

Day 5: Does salad have a place at your table? Several years ago, my sisters, my sister-in-law, and I had a long e-mail exchange about salad at Thanksgiving. I think it started when one sister was asked to bring a salad to her husband’s aunt’s for dinner. We were stymied, salad had never had a place on The Traditional Dunican Family Thanksgiving Table. Our meal would begin with lots of appetizers, because we always ate later in the day (about four o’clock). And our table was all about the sides: mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, turnips, parsnips, carrots, creamed onions. There was just no room for salad.

So, there we were, what salad to serve with Thanksgiving dinner? It went something like this:

Eileen: I'm bringing salad to my in laws for Thanksgiving. Still haven't gotten to the idea that salad is for Thanksgiving but they want one. I found this one. It sounds good to me but I was wondering if the cranberry would be over kill or good to keep similar tastes. Also would you add any other veggies to it? Any ideas are helpful.

Jamie's Cranberry Spinach Salad
Servings: 8

1 T butter
3/4 c almonds, blanched and slivered
1 lb spinach, rinsed and torn into bite-size pieces
1 c dried cranberries
2 T toasted sesame seeds
1 T poppy seeds
1/2 c white sugar
2 t minced onion
1/4 t paprika
1/4 c white wine vinegar
1/4 c cider vinegar
1/2 c vegetable oil

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Cook and stir almonds in butter until lightly toasted. Remove from heat, and let cool. In a large bowl, combine the spinach with the toasted almonds and cranberries. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, onion, paprika, white wine vinegar, cider vinegar, and vegetable oil. Toss with spinach just before serving.

Katie: If you have to have salad, this one sounds great. I think the cranberries will be great, not too much. You may want to add one yellow and one orange bell pepper to add to the "fall-ish-ness" of the salad; they're pricey, but the color and crunch they add to the salad are worth it. Also, I'd use hazelnuts rather than almonds, but whichever nut you use, I'd dry-saute them in a saute pan, not cook them in butter in a saucepan. You can put them in your toaster oven for one ding too (but sometimes they burn that way), you want them to be just lightly browned. Fred's family always has his Mom's salad at Thanksgiving too, although, more than once, we've found it in the fridge as we're putting away the leftovers.

That was most of The Salad Exchange. The rest was about the merit of appetizers beforehand, or leaving room for the dinner itself. Weigh in, what does your family do?