Roasted Cranberry and Lima Bean Thanksgiving Salad
It’s Thanksgiving time, so I wanted to share with you all a great recipe for Thanksgiving salad. With bright, sour, popping cranberry flavors, these bright red gems will burst through the other heavier Thanksgiving fare. Cranberries are sour and fresh, lightly roasted with maple syrup. The sour notes are somewhat offset by sweet corn and bell peppers. Lima beans add a hearty, creamy element that also softens the brightness of the cranberries.
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Cranberries: More American than Apple Pie
While apples originated in central Asia, the same cannot be said for the cranberry which was growing in the Americas long before colonialization. They were grown and eaten by native tribes, fresh, cooked, as sauce, and most famously as pemmican. Just a little vegan warning here- pemmican is a meat product, and we’re going to talk about it a little. Pemmican was made from cranberries, mashed together with animal meat such as deer moose, or sometimes fish, and fat, and then dried in the sun. It has a long shelf life, making it a great food source for traveling and other times when stopping and creating a meal might not be the most practical.
Where I live in Massachusetts, we’re still picking cranberries on some of the same land that Wampanoag people were as long as 12,000 years ago. In fact, little ol’ Massachusetts grows 1/4 of the American cranberry crop, which get harvested around Thanksgiving time- all the more reason to include them in more than just a cranberry sauce. They’re local (to me), fresh, and native. The beautiful little cranberry has also been given the title of “superfood”, because it is so densely packed with nutrients. They contain a generous amount of vitamins C, A, K, and E (as well as some of the B vitamins), as well as a good amount of manganese, copper, and antioxidants. And most importantly, they taste delicious, and make every dish feel a little more festive. So let’s enjoy the most cranberry time of the year together, and maybe even work to extend that season into the new year!
Flavor-Popping Roasted Cranberry Thanksgiving Salad
I eat a lot of salads, although not many of them have lettuce- I prefer salads substantial enough to be eaten as a meal, with interest and variety in each bite (Fava Bean and Pomegranate Salad, Spicy Korean Radish Salad and Rhubarb Mint Salad will give you an idea of my type of salad). I also don’t tend to lean towards subtle salads- if it’s spicy, I want to taste the spice and if it’s sour, I want those stinging notes to shine through. This is especially important for those of you who might disagree with me- if you are less of a fan of sour, you might want to reduce the amount of cranberries in this salad. You can make up for it by increasing some of the other elements- sweetness from bell peppers and sweet corn, or the smooth, buttery lima beans. You could even add more agave to the cranberry dressing, although it is fairly sweet on it’s own.
In order to make the cranberries less tart (only a little less tart, I assure you) and softer, I baked them with a tablespoon of maple syrup and some water. This makes them soft, plump and on the verge of bursting, instead of the firm, crunchy and rather dry state they are when raw. The lima beans also need to be cooked, but contrary to popular belief, they do not need to be soaked. Some cooks find the texture preferable when they’re not, and it makes little difference in the cooking time. As a side note, the Christmas Lima beans would also taste amazing here! Once your beans and berries are cooked, it’s a simple matter of making your dressing (reducing it a little) and chopping vegetables. Mix the roasted cranberries with the remaining ingredients. Serve room temperature, or chilled, to your preference.
Looking for Thanksgiving Recipes? Try one of these!
- Eggplant, Chestnut, and Mushroom Vegan Holiday Loaf
- Cornbread with Roasted Tomato and Sunflower Seeds
- Simple Homemade Vegan Pumpkin Ravioli
- Roasted Sweet Potato in Cape Gooseberry Sauce
- Avocado Mashed Potatoes with Porcini Gravy
- Pineapple, Pumpkin and Pecan Upside-Down Cake
Roasted Cranberry and Lima Bean Thanksgiving Salad
Ingredients
- ½ lb. dried lima beans
- 12 oz. fresh cranberries
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 ears of sweet corn
- 2 baby bell peppers
- 1 batch of cranberry vinaigrette
Instructions
- Place the lima beans in a pot, and cover with a few inches of water. Bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. Check the beans as you go to see if they’re cooked- they should expand in size and be soft and buttery. Once they’re cooked, drain and set aside.
- In the meantime, preheat the oven to 375°F (190C). Toss the cranberries in a glass baking dish, along with the maple syrup and a tablespoon of water. Bake for around 30 minutes, stirring once after 15 minutes, until the berries have soften and begun to burst.
- Slice the corn of the cob and dice the bell peppers. In a large bowl mix the lima beans, baked cranberries, corn, bell peppers and dressing together. Serve room temperature, or place in the fridge until ready to serve.
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