Farm Fresh Citrus Salad

Salad as the main dish, it is the future.

Photo @glutenfree_noms

Believe me, salads can be a satisfying meal just as soup can be a main course. The secret doesn’t require anything complex. It is just a matter of applying a couple of secrets that transform what would be a light lunch, into a delightful entree. In this week’s recipe, I add colorful fruit to greens, inspired by one of my favorite color combinations, pink and orange.

Salads come with a reputation of being girl food, not quite a meal nor a main dish. I am here to squish that notion because anything as beautiful as a plate of vegetables deserves a chance to be the star on any menu.

My secret is simple, and I will tell you what it is. The secret, it’s merely the quantity of ingredients. Yes, quantity! Rather than a quarter or half of a head of lettuce per person, allow an entire head of lettuce per person to be the base.

In this farm fresh salad, I combine meaty fruits like persimmon with citrus and pomegranate for a variety of textures. The red leaf lettuce serves as a base to catch the fruit’s juice, which doubles as a dressing. The pinkish red interior of cara cara oranges adds a depth of color and a bright flavor, while the pomegranate seeds pop with a delightful sweetness.

Persimmons provide a meaty and grounding force to what could otherwise be seen as a flighty, albeit bright and light salad. All together, a full head of beautiful red leaf lettuce, with two cara cara oranges, a pomegranate, and a persimmon rivals any sandwich and soup combo for lunch. Top the salad with a healthy dose of salt and pepper to add an umami flavor that really brings a raw vegetable plate home.

Recipe

Servings: 1, multiply per person

• Peel and separate two cara cara oranges

• De-seed one entire pomegranate

• Peel and chop 1–2 persimmons, cut into triangle shapes

• Wash and chop one head of red leaf lettuce

  
  

Instructions

Place the lettuce on the plate with fruit pieces. Sprinkle pomegranate seeds on top. Top with a healthy dose of salt, pepper, and seeds of your choice.

Check out the finished product on Instagram @glutenfree_noms.

Bon appetit!