Citrus Salad
This salad highlights the season’s citrus, and we are lucky in California as we do get some citrus year-round. But now is the time. The bitter chicory complements the sweet, and the toasted hazelnuts add crunch. The sumac and the fennel pollen always make people ask me, “oh my gosh, what is IN that dressing?" The dressing is just some squeezes of lemon, olive oil and salt and pepper. But the sumac and fennel pollen add such unique flavors. Use micro-greens, sprouts, herbs, and edible flowers to make your dish stunning. Be creative and experiment if you can’t get these ingredients.
Makes 4-6 side salad servings. Preparation Time 20-25 minutes
Gather
2 small heads radicchio or chicory lettuce (you can also use gem lettuce). Separate, wash and rough tear the leaves
1 pink grapefruit (supreme slices, instructions and a video link below)
2 Cara Cara or blood oranges (supreme slices, instructions and video link below)
4-5 kumquats, thinly sliced
3 watermelon radishes, thinly sliced rounds
1 medium fennel bulb, thinly sliced plus a small handful fennel fronds
1/4 cup/ 32 g toasted and roughly chopped hazelnuts
zest of 1 lemon and the the juice of 1/2 a lemon
3 tablespoons / 44.36 ml olive oil
salt to taste and pepper to taste
a few pinches of fennel pollen (find online), a little goes a long way
a few pinches of sumac (a tangy spice you can find online), a little goes along way too
a handful edible flowers (go in your garden, rose petals will do) or microgreens, fresh herbs, or sprouts
Make
Here is a great video tutorial I found online to Supreme Citrus:
Otherwise follow along here.
Using a chef’s knife, cut off the ends of each side of the citrus.
Then stand your citrus upright on one end and use your knife to peel the skin off in sections, moving in the shape of the citrus from the top to the bottom all the way around. You are cutting off the pith as well. After the peel is off, carefully remove any white pithy areas. Then using a paring knife, slice the sections out between the membranes. Set the slices aside in a small bowl. You can also squeeze the juice that is left over from the pith and flesh into a small bowl to dress the salad later.
Place the chicory leaves flat, into a low-profile serving bowl, and then place the grapefruit and orange slices, organizing segments evenly over the chicory leaves. Then place the fennel slices and fronds evenly over the citrus and chicory. Sprinkle the kumquat slices, the watermelon slices and then the hazelnuts over the salad. Zest the lemon over the salad. Using your hand or a citrus juicer evenly squeeze the lemon juice and then add the reserved grapefruit and orange juice. Go easy on in this part though as you don’t want your salad to be soggy.
Evenly sprinkle the olive oil over everything. Salt and pepper and then add the fennel pollen and sumac and the garnishes. Enjoy the beauty of your creation before you toss the salad to serve, and behold the bursts of flavor.
Recipe Developed by Anna Getty & Photos by: Kendall Conrad | @kendallconraddesign featured on the aficionada blog | #kcaficionada
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