Winter Citrus Salad With Belgian Endive
Late winter is the best time to buy citrus. In this refreshingly simple and beautiful salad, cara cara orange, blood orange, and grapefruit are combined with Belgian endive and tossed with a red wine vinaigrette. This makes for a pretty side dish for lunch or dinner. Feel free to use any of your favorite citrus fruit. Chopped cilantro sprinkled over the salad adds another dimension of flavor. Oranges and grapefruits are wonderfully immune boosting as they area great source of vitamin C. Endive is rich in folate and potassium. It also contains a powerful antioxidant called Kaempferol that has been linked to reduced risk for colon, liver and skin cancer. Endive is also fiber rich. It is however part of the chicory family and some people who have birch pollen allergy can potentially react to chicory as well. If you have this reaction, arugula works well in this salad.
Makes: 2 servings
Time to Cook: 15 minutes
Ingredients
· 1 blood orange
· 1 cara cara or navel orange
· 1 grapefruit
· 1 small shallot, finely diced
· 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
· 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
· Salt and pepper
· 2 Belgian endives, trimmed
· Coarse sea salt for garnishing, such as fleur de sel
Cooking Instructions
1. Peel the citrus: With a serrated knife, cut off top and bottom of the fruit, so it sits solidly on the cutting board. Cut top to bottom following fruit’s curve to remove peel and white pith. Slice the oranges and grapefruit horizontally into ⅛-inch rounds and place them in a bowl. Save the accumulated juice in the bowl for the vinaigrette.
2. Make the vinaigrette: Combine the shallots with red wine vinegar in a small bowl. Let stand for 10 minutes, then whisk in the olive oil and 2 tablespoons of the reserved citrus juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Slice the endives crosswise into 1-inch thick ribbons (but slice the dense core thinner) and place in the center of a salad plate.
4. Surround the endive with citrus slices. Drizzle the vinaigrette over the salad and sprinkle lightly with coarse sea salt.
Nutrition per serving
251 calories; 3 grams protein; 14 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 10 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 33 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams dietary fiber; 22 grams sugar; 810 milligrams sodium
Recipe from David Tanis, NY Times Cooking
