Winter Citrus Salad with Lavender Citrus Vinaigrette
Author: Nancy Baggett
This light, lavender-citrus vinaigrette beautifully dresses the simple winter citrus salad featured here, but do try it over a grapefruit, avocado, and escarole salad, as well. Remember that olive oil stiffens in the refrigerator, so let it come to room temperature before serving. Also note that the color of the dressing will depend greatly upon the oranges used: Some blood oranges are a deep orange-red while others are a purplish red shade. Regular juice oranges won’t add much color, but their flavor will be fine.
Ingredients
  • Dressing
  • ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon chopped red onion
  • 1 to 1¼ teaspoons chopped fresh culinary lavender buds or dried culinary lavender buds
  • 5 tablespoon strained fresh blood orange juice (or substitute orange juice if necessary)
  • ¼ cup plain unseasoned rice vinegar
  • ½ teaspoon granulated sugar
  • Scant ½ teaspoon each sea salt and dry mustard powder
  • ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon coarsely ground white pepper, to taste (substitute black pepper if necessary)
  • Winter Citrus Salad
  • 3 to 4 cups mixed crisp bitter greens, such as escarole, romaine, curly endive, and radicchio
  • 3 cups mixed citrus segments, such as oranges, blood oranges, tangelos, and mandarin oranges
  • ½ to ⅔ cups caramelized pecans, optional
  • Very thin red onion slices or shreds for garnish, optional
Instructions
  1. For the vinaigrette: Vigorously whisk together the olive oil, onion, and lavender in a small deep bowl. Let stand to infuse for 10 to 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in a jar with a non-reactive lid thoroughly stir together orange juice, vinegar, sugar, salt, mustard powder, and white pepper. Strain the oil through a fine mesh sieve into the jar, pressing down to force though as much oil as possible. Tightly cover the jar and shake well. Taste and add more salt, if desired. Shake well before serving. It will keep, refrigerated, for up to 10 days; bring back to room temperature before serving. Makes ¾ cup vinaigrette dressing.
  2. For the salad: At serving time, toss the greens lightly with the dressing . Arrange the greens in a salad bowl or divide among 4 salad plates. Arrange the citrus segments over the greens, then drizzle them lightly with more dressing. Garnish with the caramelized pecans, and red onion (if using), and serve immediately. If desired, pass the dressing so diners can add more to taste. Makes 4 side dish servings.
Recipe by KitchenLane at https://kitchenlane.com/2018/01/winter-citrus-salad-with-lavender.html