A Supreme-ly Easy Thanksgiving Side
Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at 4:00AM 
All this week, Special Fork bloggers will highlight Thanksgiving with tips, tricks and recipes for your holiday, culminating on Video Friday with a stuffed delicata squash demo, the perfect Thanksgiving main dish for vegetarians and a wonderful side for everyone else. For more recipes, visit our Special Fork database of recipes. Use the keyword, “Thanksgiving,” for your search.
By Katie Barreira
For Cooking Newbie, a blog for beginner cooks
If the closest thing to a raw vegetable on your Thanksgiving table is a plate of celery sticks stuffed with olive cream cheese, then maybe you know how I feel. What I miss most on this day of soporific turkey, bread stuffing and green bean casserole is some nice, fresh produce. The crisp texture and bright acidity of a seasonal salad make it the perfect palate-cleansing antidote. One refreshing bite and you’ll be ready to dive back into those potatoes!
A note on escarole: unlike other salad greens, such as spring mix or baby spinach, the sturdy escarole leaf (often seen in cooked preparations like Italian wedding soup) will stay crisp even when dressed, so your salad won’t sog while you say grace.
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Escarole Salad with Grapefruit, Pistachios and Ricotta Salata
If this was any old weeknight, I would throw together my salad ingredients in the nearest bowl, toss and serve. But this recipe comes equipped with a couple of tricks to help you make a salad that’s stunning enough to stand in amongst your Norman Rockwell feast.
Serves 6 to 8
1 large pink grapefruit
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
1-1/2 teaspoons honey
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large head escarole, stem trimmed and leaves quartered lengthwise
Salt and pepper
1/3 cup roasted, salted pistachios, divided
3 ounces ricotta salata, shaved with a vegetable peeler, divided
1. Supreme the grapefruit: this technique creates beautiful segments of citrus flesh with none of the bitter pith; it’s a tasty showstopper!
Slice off the ends of the grapefruit (stem and its opposite) exposing the flesh. Stand the grapefruit on either of its flat ends and slice off the skin, along with its white pith, following the curve of the fruit (a flexible slicing knife is excellent for this job if you’ve got one). Flip the grapefruit onto its other flat end and trim any of the remaining pith that you missed on the first pass.
Working over a large bowl, cut right against the membranes on both sides to release a segment of grapefruit; repeat, working your way around the fruit and letting the segments and any juice fall into the bowl. Squeeze the excess juice from what remains (it will look like the pages of a book) into the bowl.
2. Make the dressing: Remove the grapefruit supremes from the bowl and reserve. To the grapefruit juice, add the champagne vinegar, honey and oil and whisk to combine.
3. Dress the greens: In a large work bowl, toss the escarole with enough of the dressing to lightly coat the leaves. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Gently toss in about half of the grapefruit segments, nuts and cheese. Toss the remaining half of the grapefruit segments, nuts and cheese with the remaining dressing.
4. Assemble the salad: Transfer the dressed greens to a serving bowl and decoratively scatter the remaining nuts, cheese and grapefruit segments over top.
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Reader Comments (1)
Great, thanks :) I also like escarole salad with walnuts, pecorino, and red onion. Delicious.