Radicchio, Radish and Naartjie Salad

Sweet, bitter, crunch & tangy, this beautiful winter salad is an absolute stunner. You can use any salad leaves although I find the bitter salad leaves works best (see notes).

I served this salad recently as a starter along with a selection of dips and some homemade pita breads, the colours were stunning.

I used a combination of blood oranges and naartjies (clementines) here but any winter citrus will do and this salad is the perfect way to use any citrus you might have in your fruit bowl.

Serves 4

FOR THE SALAD

• 1 large blood orange *
• 2 naartjies
• 3 handfuls bitter leaves, roughly torn
• 50g radishes, washed & quartered
• 6 medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds

FOR THE DRESSING

• 1 garlic clove, squashed
• juice of of 1 naartjie
• zest of 1/2 orange or 1 naartjie
• 1 1/4 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1/2 tspn pomegranate molasses or maple syrup
• salt & pepper

• Squash the garlic with the flat side of the blade with a large knife, place the whole smashed garlic in an empty jar (with a lid) and add the rest of the dressing ingredients. Screw the lid on the jar and shake vigorously, season and taste. You are looking for a good combination of salt, sweet and tangy. Leave to infuse while you get on with making the rest of the gorgeous salad.
• Peel the naartjie and slice into rounds (like a wheel). Peel & segment the blood oranges: slice the top and bottom of the orange, cutting deep enough that you see a wheel of oranges on both sides. Place the fruit on one of its flat ends, then slice off the remaining peel & pitch, following the contour of the fruit with a sharp serrated knife. To remove individual segments, insert your knife as close as you can to the inside membrane of each segment and cut to the core, removing any seeds and pith.
• Place the segments and the naartjie wheels in a bowl with the leaves, radishes and dates.
• Toast the pumpkin seeds by stirring them in a dry pan over a medium heat for a minute or so or until they start to ‘pop’ in the pan – cool slightly and tip into the salad.
• Remove the whole smashed garlic from the dressing and pour over the salad, mixing to coat the leaves.

Serve immediately *

• Blood Oranges are available at Oranjezicht Market you can also use Cara Cara oranges which are equally stunning with their pink flesh.
• Woolworths have an ITALIAN SALAD bag with radicchio, chicory & rocket which will be perfect, I have no idea why they added chopped raw onion to this bag, I would suggest removing the onion asap after purchase to ensure the leaves don’t taste of raw onions.
• always dress a salad just before serving it, the acid in the dressing will wilt the salad leaves. If your salad leaves look a bit limp you can always leave them in a bowl with ice water 20min before serving, dry well before serving in a salad spinner – this is a good one