Amanda & Merrill

Blood Orange Salad with Olives

by:
February  4, 2011

Blood Orange Salad with Olives

- Amanda

I love a salad that I can assemble and dress on a plate. This is a classic salad -- a bit of brine, some slivers of onion, and a little kick of chile -- with a few modern touches like blood oranges and piment d'espelette. Serve as the first course for a dinner party. Follow with roasted fish or grilled lamb. And let the wine flow.

Shop the Story

Blood Orange Salad with Olives

Serves 4

  • 2 blood oranges
  • 2 clementines or mandarins
  • About 1/4 small red onion
  • 4 teaspoons red wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons best quality olive oil
  • 8 to 10 green olives, pitted and torn into quarters
  • Piment d'espelette (or other ground chile, like cayenne), to taste
  • Flaky sea salt, like Maldon

1. Cut the peel and pith from the oranges and clementines, making sure to remove all of the outer membrane without losing too much of the flesh. Cut the oranges and clementines into 1/8-inch slices. Slice the red onion thinly enough that you can see through the slices; use a mandoline if needed. You will need about 8 slices.

2. Arrange the citrus in overlapping slices on each of four plates. Disperse the sliced onion on top. Sprinkle with the vinegar, 1 teaspoon per plate. Drizzle the olive oil over each plate, about 1/2 tablespoon per plate. Divide the olives among the plates. Sprinkle with piment d'espelette, a generous pinch per plate. Season each salad with salt. Admire all the colors, then serve!

Order now

A New Way to Dinner, co-authored by Food52's founders Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, is an indispensable playbook for stress-free meal-planning (hint: cook foundational dishes on the weekend and mix and match ‘em through the week).

Order now

See what other Food52 readers are saying.

  • Alfeu
    Alfeu
  • brownh0rnet
    brownh0rnet
  • cheese1227
    cheese1227
  • mrslarkin
    mrslarkin
  • pierino
    pierino
Food52 (we cook 52 weeks a year, get it?) is a food and home brand, here to help you eat thoughtfully and live joyfully.

29 Comments

Alfeu February 6, 2011
Great and simple. I added fennel root finely sliced on mandolin. Try it !
 
Amanda H. February 6, 2011
Sounds good!
 
brownh0rnet February 6, 2011
This is great! I saw blood oranges in the market a week ago and impulsively bought them since I NEVER see them. But they've been sitting in the refrigerator because I couldn't think of what to do with them. Can't wait to try this.
 
Amanda H. February 6, 2011
Good timing!
 
cheese1227 February 5, 2011
This is just beautiful.
 
Amanda H. February 6, 2011
Thanks -- Sarah Shatz at it again!
 
mrslarkin February 4, 2011
citrus and red onion is a knock out combination. Thanks for your recipe, Amanda!
 
Amanda H. February 6, 2011
Thank you!
 
pierino February 4, 2011
My secret weapon and they are just beginning to arrive in markets now. Season was delayed because of the wacky weather. I love that little bit of rasberry flavor you get from them. In fact I have a Valentine's day recipe up my sleeve here next to the Queen of Hearts.
 
Amanda H. February 6, 2011
Looking forward to that recipe.
 
hardlikearmour February 4, 2011
Amanda, this looks like a perfect salad to help the mid-winter blues. Blood oranges are my favorite and I could easily eat 2 or 3 a day!
 
Amanda H. February 6, 2011
And just think -- kumquats are up next!
 
Creative C. February 4, 2011
I have never found a Blood Orange locally and they are so beautiful...but not synonymous with a mountain range so I'll have to satisfy the urge with something else. But no matter, love the combination of flavors.
 
Amanda H. February 6, 2011
Regular oranges work well, too -- grapefruits also -- in case you can get either of them.
 
aargersi February 4, 2011
This looks so good! Amanda I can't believe you didn't use your meat pounder thing on the olives :-) Blood oranges have been a little hard to come by here for some reason - time to go raid Mary's tree!!!!
 
dymnyno February 4, 2011
You are welcome to raid my trees! Susan, Lynda, whomever is in my neighborhood. Also, too many lemons, limes and navel oranges for me to use.
 
hardlikearmour February 4, 2011
dymnyno, I am also completely envious. Wish I were in the neighborhood!
 
Kitchen B. February 4, 2011
So now I want to move to the US........to be close to all my food52 friends. Am I just an FFF - Friend For Food. *Sigh*
 
TheWimpyVegetarian February 4, 2011
This is one of my favorite kinds of salads for the winter when citrus is at its peak! Love love love this and am excited about this week's theme! We're in Tahoe for several days, but when we get back in town I might have to find a day to grab Lynda and do a field trip to Mary's (dymnyno)!! I am sooooo envious too!
 
Amanda H. February 6, 2011
dymnyno, can we be you in our next lives?
 
ChefJune February 4, 2011
dymnyno, can you see my green face?
 
ChefJune February 4, 2011
I totally LOVE blood oranges, and use them for everything I can think of this time of year. I also love composed salads. Once thought of doing a whold book of them....

But I like to serve salad after the main course, European style. Maybe that's partly because I'm not a big dessert person, and when the salad has a little fruit in it, it kind of "finishes" the meal for me.
 
Amanda H. February 6, 2011
Funny, I've thought about a book of "assembled" dishes, where you essentially arrange foods on a platter, European style! Great meeting you on Friday night!
 
dymnyno February 4, 2011
I am lucky to have 2 blood orange trees that are dripping with lots of fruit. I have made 2 kinds of marmalade, salads, juice...orange means blood orange around here!
 
drbabs February 4, 2011
Lucky you!
 
ryanm February 4, 2011
Something very similar is served throughout Sicily, minus the piment d'espelette, but with crushed pistachios. There they don't fuss as much with cutting the orange so elegantly: just quickly peeled and broken into segments. The plus of that method is that a little bit of pith adds some nice bitterness (and it's easier); the minus is that Amanda's method generates more juice to interact with the oil. Either way it's a fantastic way to liven up February dinners.
 
Amanda H. February 6, 2011
Thanks for this info -- didn't know this.
 
drbabs February 4, 2011
Love, love, love. I've been making Mark Bittman's citrus salad (oranges and grapefruit) nearly every week this winter. I love your take with the olives and piment d'espelette. Love.
 
Amanda H. February 6, 2011
Hope you'll give it a try!