Spring is here, and the Slow Travel cooks have finished with soup and are moving onto salad! And thanks to Eden of Eden's Wonderings and Wanderings, we've gotten off to a great start.
Back in March, Eden blogged about The Search for Blood Oranges and the beautiful salad she created once she found them. I was lucky because I found them at the first place I looked (Whole Foods). Then I went to the Farmer's Market and bought strawberries, asparagus, and a baby letttuce mix with violets in it. I also added some avocado, gorgonzola, and toasted pine nuts, and made a Strawberry Vinaigrette that was wonderful. Recipes are below.
Thanks Eden! And thanks to Maria I of My Place in the Sun for making the nice salad logo for us.
Eden wrote:
Some greens - use your favorite or a combination of favorite greens
Blood Oranges - at least two or three if they are small
Berries - I used yellow and red raspberries
Dried Cranberries - because I had some and love them
Crumbled cheese - like Feta
Roasted candied pecans
Croutons, if you wish
Eden's really simple put-together method:
(I found out that slicing the blood oranges and then peeling them with a knife going around the circumference of the slice was much easier than peeling and segmenting them. This will take the most time, so start with preparing the blood oranges.)
On your salad plate or your serving bowl, start with a bed of greens and continue by assembling the ingredients on top.
Just before serving, you can add the cheese and your favorite salad dressing. I had croutons on the side but no one used them.
My notes:
Blood oranges remind me of Italy because that's the first place where I had them. This salad would be fine with regular oranges if you can't find blood oranges, but the red against the green is so nice. This salad tastes just as good as it looks. Delicious!
I get a weekly e-newsletter from my Farmer's Market and last week, this recipe was in it. It was perfect for Eden's salad.
Strawberry Mustard Salad Dressing
3 Parts Olive Oil
1 Parts Balsamic vinegar
1 Part Mustard
1.5 Parts Strawberry Jam
a pinch of salt & pepper
Mix well and add to your salad.
Comments (9)
I can’t wait to make mine. It's almost dinner time here. Your salad looks so pretty with the different shades of green and reds. Lovely presentation.
Thanks for the recipe for the strawberry vinaigrette; I'll be making that too!
Posted by María I. | April 26, 2009 8:44 PM
Posted on April 26, 2009 20:44
Looks great,Annie. I am also going to add strawberries to mine.
Posted by candi | April 27, 2009 3:09 AM
Posted on April 27, 2009 03:09
Hi Annie, wow your salad looks really good and I love all the additions you made. The dressing sounds really good too. I'm looking forward to Sunday Salad Samplers and I love Maria's logo! Have a great day!
Posted by Kathy (Trekcapri) | April 27, 2009 10:44 AM
Posted on April 27, 2009 10:44
I'm going to add your vinaigrette to my notes, too - I think that I will make this salad for the family Memorial Day barbecue.
Posted by Marcia | April 27, 2009 2:42 PM
Posted on April 27, 2009 14:42
Looks great and the asparagus addition... must have been yummy!
I have to try the recipe for the salad dressing... Thank you for sharing that.
Posted by Eden | April 28, 2009 1:11 AM
Posted on April 28, 2009 01:11
What a beautiful salad! And the vinaigrette sounds wonderful - I am going to try it next time I make this.
Violets in the salad mix - how lovely!
Posted by nancyhol | April 28, 2009 12:31 PM
Posted on April 28, 2009 12:31
Thanks everyone.
Nancy, I wish I'd thought to arrange the violets so you could see them better in my photo. They tasted like lettuce but they were pretty!
Posted by Annie | April 28, 2009 12:37 PM
Posted on April 28, 2009 12:37
Niiiice!
I love blood oranges and they are everywhere in the supermarkets here. Must be the new 'in' fruit.
This salad looks scrumptious. Thank you for posting it...I'll be making this soon. I have everything in the fridge right now! :-)
Posted by Brenda | April 30, 2009 9:04 PM
Posted on April 30, 2009 21:04
Brenda, I hope you enjoy it too! I thought it was a great salad.
Posted by Annie | May 1, 2009 8:51 AM
Posted on May 1, 2009 08:51