All Hail the Salad Queen!

If you are not new to this blog, then you know that friends, family and students have dubbed me "The Salad Queen."  Not sure what the fascination is with my salads; students photograph them, ask me for recipes, and more than one has told me that I need to write a salad cookbook.  Really?  Would anyone buy a cookbook just on salads???

Well then there's this salad....this is the one that makes me believe.  It makes me believe in turning people on to salad.  Every time I make it, people gobble it up...and there isn't even any cheese in it!!  And this is the best time to fix it, when grapefruit and oranges are at their juicy best.

My last blog was about a cleanse diet that I wanted to try, but as I mentioned, my schedule of classes at Bauman College and my own cooking classes makes it a little difficult to stick to a specific meal plan.  But I thought at least I could follow the idea of the plan: mainly fruit and veggies.  And this salad fit the bill.

I love teaching people to make this salad because it not only tastes delicious (and surprises everyone who tries it), but because I get to show them a cool knife skill called "supreme." ( Pronounced like "creme" not "cream.")

You can youtube it and watch someone do it, but I'll walk you through the basics....

Start by cutting the ends off the orange or grapefruit

And then then cut off the white part (the pith) by following the curve of the fruit.  The pith holds a great amount of nutrients, but is unfortunately too bitter to enjoy.  Keep following around the citrus until all the pith is removed.  You'll probably need to trim it a bit around the edges before you're done to get all the white off.



Next you're going to need a bowl to catch the juice as you remove the segments. (I'm watching Grey's Anatomy as I write this, and I'm feeling like an attending explaining a procedure to an intern!)  Cut between the membranes to release the segments.

Do this over a bowl (placing the segments into a separate serving bowl) so you can capture all the juice that's released; you'll use it for the dressing.  When you're done, you're left with something that resembles a book....

Take that and squeeze all the juice out of it into the bowl you've reserved for the dressing.  Repeat the same process with all of the citrus.  When you have all the segments in your serving bowl, add sliced fennel.  OK, let me talk about this for a sec.  DON'T BE AFRAID OF FENNEL!  (so glad I got that off my chest) 

Most people think they don't like fennel, but oddly, I bet they ate black licorice as a kid and loved it.  I did.  But I guess you can't ignore the fact that now you can only find Red Vines at the movie theater snack shack, and black licorice has mysteriously disappeared.  Here's the thing, though.....thinly slice your fennel and let it sit in that delicious citrus, and it takes the sting out, softens it up, and even my biggest critic likes it.

So here's how to prep it.... cut off the green fronds close to the white bulb and discard the fronds, or save it for your veg stock (just don't use too much).  Then cut out the core with a diagonal slice from each side of the bottom.



I cut the cored bulb in thirds vertically and then thinly slice.  Add this to your citrus segments and toss.  Next I mix up the citrus juice that I reserved with a little Dijon mustard, honey, salt & pepper and olive oil, and pour that dressing over the fennel and citrus segments.  The longer you can let that rest the mellower your fennel will be...I go for about 30 minutes.

When ready to serve, toss it all with some baby spinach and top with toasted walnuts and sliced avocado, if you'd like.  You're gonna be a rock star with this one!  Even my sister, who's not a huge salad fan (and an even less fennel fan) made this over and over after trying it in one of my cooking classes; that's a huge compliment for this salad.  Go on; give it a try, and don't forget to tell me how much you loved it!

Citrus Salad withAvocado                                                                                                       Serves 4

4 large cara caral oranges (can use blood oranges or valencia)

2 large grapefruit or pomelos

1 fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly sliced

¼ cup olive oil

½ teaspoon Dijon mustard

Salt & pepper to taste

4 cups baby spinach

½ cup chopped toasted walnuts

1 avocado, chopped (just before serving)

·         Cut off both ends of the oranges.  With a sharp knife remove skin and then segment the orange between the membranes over a bowl.  When segmented, squeeze the juice from the orange into the bowl.  Repeat with grapefruit.

·         Toss segments with fennel.

·         In a small jar, combine juice from oranges and grapefruit, olive oil, and mustard.  Shake to combine, taste and season with salt and pepper, adding additional olive oil if needed.

·         Pour dressing over citrus and fennel and let stand 10-30 minutes.

·         Just before serving, toss with baby spinach. Top with toasted walnut and avocado.

Boom!

You Need a Shave!

...well, at least your salad does.  I have a new fascination with shaved vegetable salads.  First of all, they're pretty (and you know I dig that!), but they are also very easy to put together and on hot days like today, they require no cooking (I dig that even more!).  Even when I was a kid, I didn't like the idea of a hot meal and the additional warmth that the kitchen gave off on a hot day.  My mom would ask me what I wanted for dinner, and I would usually say "watermelon."  Not a very nourishing meal, so I never really got that, but the idea stays with me all these years later.

So tonight it's a shaved veggie salad with citrus vinaigrette....

Four simple ingredients: asparagus, carrot, radish, and walnuts.  Asparagus is one of my favorite veggies. and its season is almost over, so I'm trying to gobble it up before they're gone.  I know, you'll continue to see them in the grocery store, but they're not going to be locally grown and fabulous. Trust me, when you buy vegetables that are in season and grown locally, you don't have to do much to them to make them delicious; they just naturally are.

I used a vegetable peeler to shave long ribbons of the asparagus spears and the carrot (try to find rainbow carrots if you can; they're gorgeous!) and then thinly sliced the radishes.  Toss the veggies with walnuts and viola!  If you're willing to cook a tiny bit, you can blanch the asparagus tips in boiling water for a couple minutes and garnish with them.  If you want to go totally raw, then save the tips in a ziploc bag  in the freezer and throw them into a homemade veg stock.

As for the vinaigrette, the surprising key to its great flavor is the use of orange juice concentrate.  I'm not generally in favor of using a packaged product over the real thing, but in this case it is so much better.

Orange-Ginger Vinaigrette

Yield: 1/4 cup

2 tablespoons white balsamic

2 tablespoons orange juice concentrate

2 teaspoons chopped ginger*

1/2 teaspoon honey

1/2 teaspoon chopped chives*

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt & pepper to taste

Place all ingredients except for salt and pepper in a small jar, cover and shake to combine.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

* A few tips: Use the side of a spoon (instead of using a knife) to peel the ginger.  This way you don't "give up too much real estate" when peeling it.  Use scissors to cut the chives into little peices.  And lastly the best way to taste your dressing is to use a piece of lettuce, or in this case one of the veggies, dipped in the dressing to see how it will taste in the salad; a spoonful is too overwhelming. 

If you don't make dressing in a jar and use a bowl instead, be sure to add all the ingredients except the olive oil, and then slowly whisk in the oil.  Then season to taste with salt & pepper.

Enjoy!!