A few weeks ago, a Facebook acquaintance posted something about how she “doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving”.  I replied asking why on earth one would abstain from Thanksgiving- it has all the fun aspects of Christmas (family, food, leisure, more food…) with none of the frantic, harried running around.  I don’t think I’ve ever had to set foot in a mall to buy anything for Thanksgiving.  And it’s always a four-day weekend… not even Christmas can guarantee that!

It’s not that I don’t enjoy the gift-giving tradition of the Christmas holiday, but sometimes it seems to eclipse everything else.  As long as I can nave a nice meal and a lot of lazing around afterward, I’m pretty content.  This Thanksgiving was exactly that- outstanding culinary contributions from the whole family (I really think it gets better every year), great company, and a little Dance Dance Revolution after our food had settled and everyone had had enough wine not to care if they looked silly.

My mom surprised me with an early birthday cake and gift since she won’t be here on my birthday.  She made a scrapbook with tons of old childhood photos, all with clever captions that must have taken her many, many hours to put together.  Looking through it, and looking around me, I couldn’t help but be a bit melancholy that this would probably be one of the last holidays we’d all celebrate with the entire family.  With siblings getting married and being pulled in different directions, we’ll have to start taking turns with what in-laws to visit and inevitably not everyone will be able to come to each gathering.  I know it’s just a fact of growing older but for a close knit family like ours, it will be a difficult transition.

That said, I am ready to embrace life’s changes rather than dwell on what has passed.  Marvin and I will be moving into our new home in the next month if all goes according to plan, and we hope to host next year’s Thanksgiving celebration (or maybe even Easter, who knows!).  Although change can be stressful at times, I look forward to all the new joys and challenges that will come with combining our households.

One thing I  definitely look forward to with having our new house is not having to travel for every get-together if we get to host! This year, I had to work Wednesday and get up early Thanksgiving day to drive, so in lieu of cooking something I made a big fancy salad.  I combined wintry flavors of radicchio and pear, with pistachios to give extra color and crunch.  Like any composed salad, I think it looks prettiest and is easiest to serve on a platter so that you can distribute the ingredients more equitably and don’t end up with, say, all the nuts at the bottom of the bowl.

I stuffed myself silly on homemade bacon-wrapped “poppers” (see below) for an appetizer, mac and cheese, the best collard greens I’ve ever tasted, and the usual suspects like stuffing, potatoes, turkey and gravy.  I know I’m forgetting some items but it’s been two weeks already (when you read my next couple posts you’ll understand why it’s taken me that long to finish this)! To top it all off, my brother made a pecan pie, a pear and almond galette, and pumpkin empanadas.  My mom also made a pineapple upside down cake, which was a childhood favorite of mine, for my birthday. 

If you feel full just reading that, this salad makes a nice light supper to help balance out any holiday indulgences.

Note: First two photographs by Marvin Shaouni

Winter Salad with Pears & Pistachios

1 head red leaf lettuce
1 large shallot
½ a head of radicchio
2 Seckel pears or 1 ripe Bosc or Anjou pear
⅓ cup unsalted pistachios
1 tsp Dijon mustard
3 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs Champagne vinegar or quality white wine vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Notes: I prefer Seckel pears because they slice into perfect bite sized pieces, but feel free to substitute another pear variety. Because many people expect a cheese in their composed salads, I did serve some crumbled blue cheese on the sde, but the salad has a nice character without it.

Slice the shallots, not too thin.  Soak them in a bowl of ice water while you prep other ingredients- this will make them nice and crunchy while also removing a bit of their sting.  Wash and dry the lettuce. Toast the pistachios over medium-low heat in a dry skillet, shaking occasionally, until fragrant; set aside to cool. Remove the core from the radicchio and slice into thin shreds.  Core and slice the pears.  If doing this in advance of serving, toss the pears with a little of the vinegar you are using so they don’t turn brown.

In a bowl large enough to hold the lettuce, make the dressing: Add the olive oil, then the mustard, and whisk until incorporated; then add the vinegar (you may want more or less to taste) and whisk again until emulsified.  If the quantity of dressing looks too small for the amount of lettuce you have, tweak it by adding proportional amounts of oil and vinegar.  Add salt and pepper to taste- don’t be shy with the salt, as you are effectively salting the whole salad, not just the dressing.  Toss the lettuce in the dressing to coat.

Transfer the dressed lettuce to a platter and scatter over the radicchio, pears, shallots (drained), and pistachios.  Serve immediately.