We tried a new salad for our Christmas dinner this year. Usually, I make a napa cabbage salad with hot bacon dressing that has been our favorite holiday meal salad for years. We just had it at Thanksgiving and usually serving it is repeated at Christmas. But, I wanted something different.
In one of the many cooking magazines we get, I found a new salad recipe that looked pretty and sounded yummy. It was in the new edition of Cooking Light: Plant-Based Recipes. Winter 2022. 34 (4).
This recipe calls for fennel, endive, radicchio, blood oranges and hazelnuts. When I looked on Thursday at the grocery store for the fresh components, they did not look good. So, I figured I would wait and check again. The second grocery store visit, 24 hours later, was successful! The only substitution I had to make was to get cara cara oranges instead of blood oranges.
The only early prep for the salad is to toast the hazelnuts and section the oranges. But, I also washed and chopped the greens, setting them, as well as the homemade dressing – made with juice from the oranges aside – until just prior to serving. The salad is also topped with fresh mint.
The verdict? It’s a keeper for me but too bitter for most of my family members, although they all ate it. I’m going to keep the recipe and tweak it a little bit with less bitter greens. Maybe some romaine and red bib lettuce would work with the fennel instead of the endive and radiccio.
It looked nice on the table and was easy to prepare. When we had leftovers last night, I enjoyed another large bowl of it. Would you enjoy this salad? The link is below to the recipe if you want to try it. I did not think it would be available since it is in the new issue, but I was able to easily find it for you!
Cooking Light Recipe. Fennel and Blook Orange Salad.
The Apples in My Orchard 