Food & Drink

Winter Citrus Salad

Serves 4

Fresh grapefruit and oranges with olives and herbs

February 3, 2014

Photo: Margaret Houston

Thank goodness for citrus. Just when gray winter days feel like they’ll stretch into forever, lemon, orange, and grapefruit trees ripen their sunny fruit.

“It’s good to have something light and refreshing instead of the heavy foods of winter,” says Michael Paley, chef and partner at Garage Bar in Louisville, Kentucky.

Inspired by a salad he ate at Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, Paley plates thickly sliced oranges, surrounds them with fennel, “really good” olives, and fresh jalapeños, and then finishes with a drizzle of olive oil on top.

Paley recommends serving this salad as a main dish or alongside something light like ceviche or pickled shrimp.

Ingredients

- 3 oranges or grapefruit (Paley likes Cara Cara oranges, but Texas Ruby Red grapefruit or Florida navels also work well)
- 1 jalepeño
- 1/2 cup Cerignola olives
- 1 bulb fennel
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley leaves
- 1 tbsp. lemon juice
- 3 tbsp. orange juice
- 3 tbsp. olive oil
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper

Preparation

Cut the ends from the oranges, leaving a little of the orange ‘meat’ on each piece to save for juicing later. Peel and slice the oranges ¼ to ½-inch thick and place in a bowl.

Seed and thinly slice the jalapeño and pit the olives.

Core the fennel and slice thinly.

Toss all ingredients together with the lemon juice, orange juice, and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Recipe from chef Michael Paley of Garage Bar in Louisville, Kentucky.

CJ Lotz Diego is Garden & Gun’s senior editor. A staffer since 2013, she wrote G&G’s bestselling Bless Your Heart trivia game, edits the Due South travel section, and covers gardens, books, and art. Originally from Eureka, Missouri, she graduated from Indiana University and now lives in Charleston, South Carolina, where she tends a downtown pocket garden with her florist husband, Max.