A few rays of sunshine and I can’t bear it any longer: I need colour and pretend spring is here! Luckily citrus like blood oranges are bang in season and some tropical fruits like pomegranate! Making a vibrant coloured salad is just what I need! Inspired by reading about these Sicilian salads with blood oranges, I made my own Mediterranean version.
This is a colourful citrus salad is amazingly versatile: serve it as a Saturday light lunch, a colourful midweek dinner or a zingy starter as total veggie.
BLOOD ORANGES – These crimson beauties come from the Mediterranean, they are a hybrid orange from circa 18th century found both in Spain and Italy and are in season end January and February.
There are 3 main varieties: the Moro, the Tarocco and the Sanguinello. The Moro is a tad more bitter and most colourful with a range from vermillion, vivid crimson to almost black. The Tarocco has more blush tones and has the highest concentration of vitamin C. The Sanguinello circa 1929 from Spain has a sweet and tender flesh, very few seeds and is very juicy and different shades of orange and red.
RADICCHIO – also called Italian chicory, circa 15th century cultivated in Veneto and Trentino, Italy. It is similar to our Belgian endives (chicon) to obtain these white-veined red leaves they are put in the dark and loose their green pigmentation. The leaves have a little bitter taste and can be eaten raw. braised or grilled.
DRESSING – I am not a big fan of drippy, yogurt dressings; give me a splash of some quality olive oil and a fruity vinegar or lemon juice. That’s all I need! For this dressing I used blood orange juice, agave and olive oil.
TIP: An extra crunch comes from the pomegranate seeds and the pistachios. The feta compliments the citrus and radicchio and chicon very well.
Citrus and Radicchio Salad with Feta
Prep
Total
Yield 2 people
Ingredients
- 5 Radicchio leaves, cleaned
- 1 chicon (endives), cleaned
- 1 pink grapefruit
- 2 blood oranges
- 30 gr pistachios, crushed
- 1/2 red onion, sliced
- 1/4 pomegranate
- 50gr feta
- 1 tea spoon agave syrup
- 1 tea spoon olive oil
- salt to season
Instructions
- Tear the Radiccho leaves in smaller pieces and lay on serving dish. Layer the chicon leaves at random.
- Cut the blood oranges in segments while capturing the juice in a bowl. Layer at random on the plate.
- Remove the peel and cut the pink grapefruit in slices. Layer at random on the plate. Layer the red onion slices.
- Sprinkle the pistachios and pomegranate seeds over the plate. Crumble the feta over it.
- Take the blood orange juice, season with salt, add the agave syrup and a splash of olive oil. Shake in a jar and serve with the salad.
Notes
recipe on www.LeeksandHighHeels.com by Sandra Slawinski
Courses lunch
Written and photographed by Sandra Slawinski without commercial deals. I used my plate and cutlery from ZaraHome.
