Food

Watercress–Currant Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

Plate of fresh green leafy salad with a spoon on a white tablecloth, with a small dish of additional greens on the side.

Watercress–Currant Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

Photo Credit: Heath Robbins

In 2003, we consulted with historians at Plimoth Plantation and asked writer Jane Walsh to devise a menu using ingredients that would have been served at the first Thanksgiving meal. We prioritized deliciousness over strict authenticity, but we did use currants, which grew wild in the area. Likewise, watercress might have been available if the frosts had held off. That formed the basis of this simple Watercress–Currant Salad with a tangy cider vinaigrette.

Yield

8 to 10 servings

Total Time

15 minutes minutes

Hands-on Time

15 minutes minutes

Ingredients

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons apple-cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons honey
½ teaspoon kosher salt,plus more to taste
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large bunches watercress (about 8 ounces each), washed, dried, large stems removed
3/4 cup dried currants

Instructions

Put the oil, vinegar, mustard, honey, salt, and pepper in a small jar or other container with a tightly fitting lid. Shake well until the mixture is fully blended, about 10 seconds. Taste and add more salt if desired. Toss the dressing with watercress and currants until lightly coated.

Amy Traverso

Amy Traverso is the senior food editor at Yankee and cohost of the public television series Weekends with Yankee, a coproduction with GBH. Previously, she was food editor at Boston magazine and an associate food editor at Sunset magazine. Her work has also been published in The Boston Globe, Saveur, and Travel & Leisure, and she has appeared on Hallmark Home & Family, The Martha Stewart Show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, and Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. Amy is the author of The Apple Lover’s Cookbook, which was a finalist for the Julia Child Award for best first-time author and won an IACP Cookbook Award in the “American” category.

More by Amy Traverso

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