Citrus Salad with Radicchio and Endive
As soon as the New Year arrives, grocery stores fill up with an over-abundance of oranges, lemons, grapefruits, mandarins, and more. I wanted to make a salad that puts this citrus front-and-center, without making the dish watery, overly saccharine, or bland. To hit this perfect balance, I chose complementary toppings like manchego cheese and toasted almonds, as well as hardy radicchio and endive to give the salad some heft. Toasting the almonds in olive oil, which later becomes the dressing with lemon juice, imparts a roasted quality to the dish that is just so delicious. What’s best, though—use whatever sweet or tart citrus you want! I made mine with blood orange, mandarin, and navel orange, but feel free to use other medium-sized varietals.
Tips
Make sure you stop toasting the almonds when they are light golden brown. They will continue to darken off heat and you do not want them to burn.
Choosing a variety of citrus (in taste and in color) is both more interesting in flavor and visually. It is also a great opportunity to experiment with citrus that you may have never tried before.
3 large servings, 6 side servings
Ingredients
Click on Image to see Instagram post.
1 head of radicchio
2 endive
3 medium-sized citrus of your choice
3.5 oz. manchego or drunken goat cheese, thinly sliced into bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup almonds, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Half a lemon
Salt
Pepper
Directions
Cut the radicchio head in half through the core and remove the core with your knife. Slice each radicchio half into 1/4 inch ribbons. Cut each endive lengthwise and thinly slice each half into ribbons. Mix the two salad greens in your serving bowl.
Top the salad with manchego cheese. Set aside.
Zest one of the citrus and set aside for the dressing. Segment all three citruses and remove any seeds. Set aside.
Over medium heat, heat up the olive oil in a small saucepan until shimmering. Add the almonds and toast until light golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the reserved citrus zest.
Drizzle the warm dressing over the salad. Squeeze the lemon half of the salad, too. Top with the segmented citrus. Season with salt and pepper, and serve.
