Some time ago, my family watched a Jamie Oliver Christmas where he took leftover turkey and created a salad that almost literally had our mouths watering. Unable to resist, I created the same salad for dinner over the holidays. If you don’t have any turkey, don’t worry. Poach about 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs in water with peppercorns, a sprig of rosemary, a few sprigs of thyme, 3 crushed garlic cloves, and a strip of lemon peel until cooked through. Let the chicken cool, then shred and proceed with the recipe. You can use this as an appetizer but we loved it as a main course with fresh crusty buns.
Ingredients:
2 large handfuls of turkey meat
1 large handful of unsalted cashews
1 handful of dried cranberries
2 tsp 5 spice powder
bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked off
bunch of fresh coriander, leaves picked off
4 large handfuls of mixed greens-I used arugula, and green leaf lettuce, but you can also use spinach and watercress
1 tbsp honey
1 fresh chile, seeded and chopped (optional)
Dressing:
juice of a clementine
juice of a lime
1 pomegranate, halved
1/2 red onion, grated
extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, grated
In a dry pan over medium heat, combine the turkey meat, cashews, dried cranberries, and 5 spice powder, give it a good stir and then allow it to brown and crisp up while you assemble the other ingredients.
Toss the mint, coriander, and greens together in a bowl. Set aside.
In a bowl, combine the clementine and lime juices. Holding one of the pomegranate halves over the bowl, give it a squeeze to get some juice out. Make sure to hold your hand under the half so that none of the seeds will fall into your dressing. Stir in the grated onion, then some olive oil. This is where you get to judge where you like it best-I preferred about half of the juice and half oil, but Jamie recommended more than that. I say maybe you should just try it and if you want more oil, add some. Stir in the soy sauce, sesame oil, then get your grated ginger and squeeze it over top so the juice drips into the bowl as well. Give it a good whisk.
Toss the greens with some of the dressing, adding a little more oil, soy, or lime juice if you wish.
Give the meat a good stir, and then add the honey, moving it all around in the pan to get it coated and crispy. Put some of the greens on each plate, then top with the hot meat. Top with some pomegranate seeds from the reserved half and serve immediately with the leftover dressing so that people can add more if they like.
Serves 4
Adapted from Jamie Oliver.com
Printer-friendly version