Recipe: Wild Rice and Turkey Salad with Pear Dressing

the appetizer:

This Wild Rice and Turkey Salad with Pear Dressing recipe is from Lorna Sass' cookbook Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way.

Wild Rice and Turkey Salad
with Pear Dressing

Serves 4

Here is a fetching main dish salad to prepare when your refrigerator overflows with holiday leftovers. It also makes a festive contribution to a potluck any time of year, prepared with store-bought roast turkey.

For the pear dressing

1 large ripe Bartlett pear
2 tablespoons canola or peanut oil
1-1/2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

For the salad

3 cups cooked Basic Wild Rice (page 110 of the book)
3 cups diced roast turkey
1/2 cup pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped
1/3 cup chopped dried cranberries
1/3 cup thinly sliced scallion greens

Quarter the unpeeled pear and remove the core and seeds. Puree the pear in a mini food processor. Transfer it to a large bowl and blend in the oil, vinegar, honey, orange zest, salt, and allspice.

Stir in the wild rice, turkey, pecans, cranberries, and scallion greens. Adjust the seasonings to taste. Let the salad sit for 10 minutes before serving. Serve at room temperature.

Variation
Use roast chicken instead of turkey.

Grain Exchange
Substitute Wehani rice for the wild rice.

Buy the Book

from:
Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way
by Lorna Sass
Clarkson Potter
$32.50
ISBN: 978-0-307-33672-9
Recipe reprinted by permission.