Last Winter Salad w/ Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette
Description
A salad to tide us over while we wait for spring.
Ingredients
Scale
For the salad
- 1 head of fennel, top removed
- 2 beets, cooked (see notes)
- 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
- 3–4 cups cleaned salad greens or arugula
- 2 blood oranges
- 4–5 radishes, washed
For the vinaigrette
- 1 Meyer lemon, juiced
- 1/2 small shallot, finely minced
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/4 cup heavy cream (or sour cream, creme fraiche, greek yogurt)
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
Make the vinaigrette
- Put the shallot, lemon juice, a pinch of salt, and honey in a bowl and whisk together. Add the extra virgin olive oil slowly, while whisking. Add the cream slowly, while whisking. Check for seasoning, and set aside.
- Put the washed greens in a big bowl. If you have one, use a mandolin to finely slice the fennel bulb and radishes. If you don’t have a mandolin, carefully slice them by hand, as thinly as possible. Add the radishes and fennel to the bowl.
- Cut the beets in half, and then into wedges and add them to the bowl.
- Cut the top and bottom of each orange off so that they sit flat on the cutting board. Use a sharp paring knife to remove the peel and pith as closely as you can, losing as little of the orange as possible. Turn the peeled orange on its side and slice into rounds. Put the citrus rounds in the salad bowl and pour any leftover juice into the bowl, if desired.
- Toss the salad with some of the dressing, starting with about a few tablespoons and adding more to your taste. Distribute into serving bowls and crumble the toasted walnuts on top.
Notes
- The easiest way to cook beets is to wash them well, rub them with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and roast, wrapped in foil, for about 1 hour at 350 degrees. They can also be boiled gently for about 1 hour. Either way, wait until they’ve cooled slightly in order to peel them.