You need to eat! as my mother would say. But today, you don’t need to cook. Here’s a quick option: Start with a hunk of smoked turkey from the deli, then toss with a few crunchy bits including seedless grapes. (Speaking of, why don’t they sell grapes by the half-pound, too? Let’s start a supermarket write-in campaign.) The dressing is basically a doctored mayonnaise — it’s surprising what a few tablespoons of good dry sherry will do. If you don’t have that on hand, use half that amount of sherry vinegar instead.
Even if you’re setting the table for two, make the full recipe and count on leftovers for lunch, which can be tossed with crisp romaine or tender napa cabbage, or you could stir in some cooked grains.
Smoked Turkey Salad With Cashews and Sherry Dressing
6 servings
Serve nestled in radicchio leaves, and with warm flatbread or naan. Adapted from “Green Black Red: Recipes for Cooking and Enjoying California Grapes,” by Susan Volland (Chronicle, 2008).