Refreshing citrus salad
FoodLight and delicious

Refreshing citrus salad

Made with ruby red grapefruits and oranges

Refreshing citrus salad (Photo by Jessica Grann)
Refreshing citrus salad (Photo by Jessica Grann)

The ruby red grapefruits I’ve been getting recently are the best tasting that I’ve purchased in years, so now is the moment to share this light and refreshing citrus salad recipe.

This salad is exactly what I want in January after I’ve had my fill of rich holiday fare. I typically make this with avocado, but I listed avocado here as optional because it’s not in the photograph. I think we’ve all had the unfortunate experience of buying a bag of avocados only to find them unusable. If you happen to have ripe, yet firm, avocados, then you should use them, but the salad tastes wonderful either way. The cucumber, citrus and hearts of palm make for beautiful additions to salad greens.

Ingredients
Serves 4

1 bag of arugula or spring mix
1 large ruby red grapefruit
1 large orange
1 cup of thinly sliced cucumber
1 cup of sliced hearts of palm

Optional:
1-2 avocados, peeled and sliced
2 tablespoons raw unsalted pistachios, coarsely chopped

If you need to prepare this ahead of time, chop everything (except avocado) beforehand. Wrap and store each item separately and assemble the salad just before you need it.

Thinly slice the cucumber and slice the hearts of palm in ¼-inch round pieces.

Slice the stem and naval ends off the grapefruit. If you can’t see the entire round window of the fruit, keep slicing through the pith until you can. When the ends are sliced off, the grapefruit will sit flat on a cutting board, which makes it easier to remove the skin.

Use a sharp paring knife and cut down and through the rind from top to bottom, removing the peel and as much of the pith as you can. Then turn the grapefruit on its side and slice it in 2 or 3 rounds that are about 1 ½ inches wide. The membrane and pith hold most of the bitter flavor, so remove as much of it as possible.

Grapefruits can be very juicy, so I work over a bowl. Doing so catches all of the extra juice, a portion of which will be used later to dress the salad. Gently pull each round apart and peel the membrane from each section, then put the sections back into the bowl of juice.

Repeat the same steps with the orange and add those pieces to the grapefruit. If you have an extra orange, you can cut thin slices and garnish the salad with them.

Lay the lettuce onto a platter.

Scatter the cucumber slices and hearts of palm over the top.

Use the nicest, biggest sections of grapefruit for the top of the salad, tucking any smaller pieces into the lettuce.

If you’re using avocado, remove the pit, slice the avocados in ¼-inch slices horizontally, scoop each half from its skin, then fan each one out over the top of the salad.

I dress this simply and don’t use a real recipe, but I’ll share with you how I do it:

Take 3 or 4 tablespoons of the citrus juice from the bowl and put it into another small bow. Taste the juice — if it’s very bitter you can add 1 or 2 teaspoons of honey. If the juice is on the sweeter side, then don’t add any sweetener.

Add a pinch of salt and pepper and stir in 1 or 2 teaspoons of olive oil.

Drizzle it over the salad right before serving.

This isn’t a traditional salad dressing as there is no need to make an emulsion, no garlic or herbs and no excess oil. It’s very light, which is what I enjoy about it most.

Many people have nut allergies, so I usually make nuts optional, but I especially enjoy this with coarsely chopped pistachios — they should be raw, unsalted and sprinkled over the top. Nuts are a good way to add texture to salad.

Enjoy and bless your hands! PJC

Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.

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