Blood Orange & Fennel Salad

It’s a marvelously magenta blood orange and fresh fennel salad with a complex range of bitter, sweet, salty and tangy flavors that can brighten up even the greyest of winter days!

Why this Recipes Works

• The sweetness and tartness of the blood oranges is balanced by the bitterness of the chicories, the saltiness of the ricotta salata, and the brightness of the citrus vinaigrette.
• We make full use of every last drop of the blood oranges’ flavor, using them 2 ways (segmented for the salad & juiced for the vinaigrette).
• This healthy seasonal salad is a much welcome crunchy and bright palette refresher during the depths of these cold winter months.

It’s the salad that celebrates the fresh ingredients of the cold winter months… and reminds me that winter will not last forever. Phewwww!!!

What Are Chicories

Chicories are closely related to lettuces. They’re a varied group and all share a bitter edge. They’re cool weather crops, providing a lot of flavor to fall and winter meals. They include Belgian endive, curly endive, escarole, and radicchio.

I have a newfound appreciation for these beautiful bitter leaves. I’ve started craving how they cut through the rich and heavy food of the winter months. A palette cleanser at its best!

Does Fennel have a bad rap?

If you think you’re not a fennel person, I *strongly* urge ya to try again! I can’t tell ya how many times clients tell me that they don’t like fennel only to try it in one of my dishes and loveeee it!!! No clue why fennel has gotten has such a bad rap. It’s so damn refreshing. So if ya think ya don’t like it, please slice it super thin and try it again in this salad!

Welcome to My (Artistic) Process

I’m doing this post a bit differently and sharing my process both developing this salad recipe and getting that hero shot. I went through 2 very similar iterations and shoots of this dish that just didn’t quite cut it. Instead of forgetting about those failed attempts, I’m sharing them here in the hopes of helping and inspiring you through your process. Yaya for inspiring others!

*** And yes, I prob shouldn’t take the camera out til I’m done with all the recipe testing… but I just can’t help it…

The starting point: I wanna develop a blood orange & fennel salad recipe.

Attempt  #1:

Thoughts:

• Shallots are too strong ~ lets marinate them in the dressing!
• I want my fennel thinner ~ mandolin is coming out!
• Finial dish shot: simply ain’t working for me.
• And that lettuce is so damn beautiful… let’s capture it individually!

Attempt #2:

Thoughts:

• Drooling looking at the marinating shallots ~ stoked on my idea ~ yum!
• Shit?! As soon as I finished this shot I saw the bowl of the beautifully specked lettuce that I had just shot individually… and realized I forgot to include it in the ingredient shot! And the mint too! Time for a redo!
• Final shot: realize I wanna shred my cheese. The ricotta salata slices just ain’t working for me.

Attempt #3:

Thoughts:

• Score! I love it!
• Full disclosure: I forgot the fennel in the final dish shot!!!! Let’s just pretend its hiding underneath all those gorgeous chicories. Okay?! Ok! Good. Glad we sorted that out.

How to Make this Recipe

Wash lettuce, segment citrus, whisk vinaigrette, thinly slice shallots and marinade in vinaigrette, thinly slice fennel, shred cheese, tear mint, assemble, dress, season, viola ~ all done!

Cooks Tips

• Pick oranges that are firm to the touch and feel heavy for their size.
• How to segment citrus: cut the top and bottom off so the citrus sits flat, cut the skin deep enough off to expose the flesh and carefully cut out the segments from the membrane, holding the fruit over a bowl to catch the juices (and use for the vinaigrette).
• Don’t worry if you can’t find blood oranges! Sub ruby red grapefruit or pretty pink cara cara oranges instead (or a combo!)
• Any kind of chicories (or a combo) works!
• If you have a mandolin, now is the time to use it! Slice that fennel nice and thin.

Have ya tried this recipe? I’d love to hear about it and see it too! Please leave a comment below and take a pic and tag it on Instagram with #wavesinthekitchen. You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest to see more colorfully delicious food and all sorts of awesome adventures!

Let’s Makes Waves in the Kitchen!

Print Recipe

5 from 10 votes

Blood Orange & Fennel Salad

It’s a marvelously magenta blood orange and fresh fennel salad with a complex range of bitter, sweet, salty and tangy flavors that can brighten up even the greyest of winter days!

Prep Time20 mins

Total Time20 mins

Course: Appetizer, Salad

Cuisine: Californian

Keyword: Blood Orange and Fennel Salad, Blood Orange Salad, Radicchio Salad, Winter Salad Recipe

Servings: 4

Ingredients

Salad

• 4 cups leaves from chicories endive, escarole, frisee, Treviso, radicchio or a mix
• 6 blood oranges cut into segments
• 2 fennel very thinly sliced
• 4 ounces ricotta salata shredded
• 1/3 cup pistachios lightly toasted
• 1 shallots very thinly sliced
• handful mint leaves chiffonade
• flaky sea salt to taste
• pepper to taste

Vinaigrette

• juice from segmented oranges
• 1 tablespoon champagne vinegar add more to taste
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon honey
• flaky sea salt to taste
• pepper to taste

Instructions

• Segment the blood oranges, squeezing every last drop of that blood orange juice out as well.
• Whisk together the blood orange juice, honey, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.
• Thinly slice the shallots and marinade in the vinaigrette while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Ideally, the can chill in the vinaigrette at least 20 minutes.
• Thinly slice the fennel, preferably on a mandolin if you have one.
• Wash & dry chicory leaves. Toss them with 2-3 tablespoons of vinaigrette to coat them lightly. Spread on a platter or divide among 4 shallow bowls. Scatter with fennel, citrus, pistachios, cheese and mint. Drizzle with a little more dressing and sprinkle with a bit of flaky sea salt and black pepper. Enjoy right away.

Notes

• Pick oranges that are firm to the touch and feel heavy for their size.
• How to segment citrus: cut the top and bottom off so the citrus sits flat, cut the skin deep enough off to expose the flesh and carefully cut out the segments from the membrane, holding the fruit over a bowl to catch the juices (and use for the vinaigrette).
• Don’t worry if you can’t find blood oranges! Sub ruby red grapefruit or pretty pink cara cara oranges instead (or a combo!)
• Any kind of chicories (or a combo) works!
• If you have a mandolin, now is the time to use it! Slice that fennel nice and thin.