Orange Salad with Endive and Radicchio

Key Ingredients

• Oranges: Choose your favorite orange varieties, such as Navel, Cara Cara, or blood oranges. Since some of the zest flavors the vinaigrette, opt for organic oranges. Orange juice sweetens the vinaigrette and adds a touch of orange flavor to the whole salad. To add a real boost of orange flavor to the dressing, it’s essential to include orange zest. The zest has concentrated essential oils that are missing in the juice.
• Bitter greens: Belgian endive is a moderately bitter, delicately flavored winter green. You can use either the white or red endive. Radicchio is deep red or purple with white veins. Like endive, it’s a member of the chicory family and has a pleasant crunch and spicy bitterness. To keep the bitterness in check, I like to mix in some green lettuce, red lettuce, or mesclun with the endive and radicchio.
• Green olives: The rich, salty flavor of olives acts almost like a bridge connecting the sweetness of oranges and the bitterness of the greens. Without the olives, the salad falls out of balance. Try smoky manzanilla, buttery Castelvetrano, or herbal Negrinhas.

How to Make Orange Salad

Remember to zest one of the oranges before segmenting them. The salad and vinaigrette take just minutes to toss together. Here are the steps:

• Prepare the oranges. Use a fine grater to zest 1 orange. You’ll need 1 teaspoon of zest, and reserve in a small bowl for the vinaigrette. Cut the top and bottom off the orange. Set it down flat on the cutting board and, following the curve of the orange, cut the peel and pith off from top to bottom. You’ll see the oranges’ natural segments, separated by thin membranes. Use the knife to cut alongside each membrane, segmenting the fruit. Repeat with the remaining 2 oranges (reserve the peel to make candied orange peels). Collect the juices on the cutting board to use in the vinaigrette. If you don’t have enough to yield 2 tablespoons, you can squeeze the tops, bottoms, and cores of the oranges for more juice.
• Make the vinaigrette. To the bowl with the orange zest, add the orange juice, 1/4 cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar, and 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard. Whisk together until emulsified. Taste, and season with salt and pepper.
• Prepare the greens. Trim the bottom stems off 2 heads of endive. Slice in half crosswise, and separate the leaves. Core 1 head of radicchio and 1 head of green lettuce, and separate the leaves. Gently tear the larger leaves in half, leaving the small inner leaves whole. 
• Mix and dress. In a large serving bowl, layer the endive, radicchio, green lettuce, and most of the orange segments. Pour the vinaigrette over the salad and toss to mix evenly. Top with the remaining orange segments, 1/2 cup pitted and halved green olives, and 1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts. Serve immediately.

Make it Your Own

This salad balances sweet and bitter flavors, so when thinking of substitutions or new additions, keep that balance in mind. Here are a few of my favorite swaps and add-ons:

• Citrus: Use a mix of citrus fruits, such as oranges, grapefruit, mandarins, or clementines.
• Greens: Use red endive or another vibrant radicchio variety, like Castelfranco or Lusia. If you want to make it less bitter, try escarole, frisée, or use spinach, arugula, or your favorite winter salad greens.
• Nuts: Instead of walnuts, use toasted hazelnuts or almonds. To make it nut-free, try toasted pepitas.
• Cheese: Add a sprinkling of crumbled goat cheese or some blue cheese, like Cabrales or Gorgonzola.
• Add shallots or pickled red onion.

What to Serve with Orange Salad

This vibrant salad can hold its own for a winter lunch or appetizer. But the bittersweet flavors pair well with comfort dishes like braises, roasts, and hearty pasta dishes.

It’s delicious with this sweet and savory braised chicken with mushrooms and figs. The bitter greens will cut through the sweet, creamy flavors of this butternut squash lasagna. Or when in doubt, you can’t go wrong with seared, bone-in pork chops.