Recipe to beat high blood pressure: creamy turkey salad with grapes and pecans

With its wonderfully contrasting tastes and textures, this salad makes a satisfying main course that is luxurious without containing a lot of saturated fat. It is the perfect recipe for roast turkey leftovers.

Preparation time: 25 minutes, plus cooling

Serves 4

• 250 g (8 oz) fusilli pasta
• 250 g (1 c) plain, low-fat yogurt
• 45 ml (3 tbsp) reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 5 ml (1 tsp) white wine vinegar
• 10 ml (2 tsp) Dijon mustard
• 45 ml (3 tbsp) chopped fresh tarragon
• 260 g (9 oz) skinless, boneless roast turkey, cubed
• 2 celery stalks, cut into thin strips
• 250 g (1 c) seedless black grapes, or a mixture of black and green grapes, halved
• 50 g (1/4 c) toasted and coarsely chopped pecans
• Pepper to taste
• Sprigs of fresh tarragon for garnish

1. Cook the pasta in boiling water according to the package instructions, omitting the salt, until al dente, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water, then drain again and leave to cool.
2.  Meanwhile, mix the yogurt with the mayonnaise, white wine vinegar, mustard and tarragon in a large bowl. Stir until all the ingredients are combined and the dressing is smooth.
3. Add the pasta, turkey, celery, grapes, toasted pecans and seasoning to taste. Toss until the ingredients are all evenly coated with the dressing.
4. Transfer to a serving dish or plates and garnish with sprigs of tarragon.

• For a spicy Indian flavour, stir in 30 millilitres (2 tablespoons) curry paste (or to taste) with the yogurt. Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro instead of tarragon.
• Use 50 grams (1/4 cup) roasted, unsalted cashews instead of the pecans, and 2 cored and chopped apples instead of the grapes. Add 50 grams (1/4 cup) raisins.
• Try 250 grams (8 ounces) firm tofu instead of the turkey to make a vegetarian salad.

• Grapes are high in sugar and relatively low in vitamins when compared with other fruit. However, they contain unusually large amounts of bioflavonoids, antioxidants that help to protect against the damaging effect of free radicals linked with cancer and heart disease. They also have ample amounts of potassium, an important mineral for healthy blood pressure.
• Naturopaths consider grapes to have healing powers.

Key nutrients: 450 calories, 110 calories from fat, 12 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 27 g protein, 57 g carb, 3 g fibre, 260 mg sodium.

Blood pressure nutrients: 7 mg vitamin C, 73 mg magnesium, 640 mg potassium, 165 mg calcium.