Cooking my way through Heidi Swanson’s Near and Far: Recipes Inspired by Home and Travel has been a colorful, zesty challenge so far. Case in point - this wildly vibrant bouquet, full of zip and zazzzzz, juice and crunch. Everything a limp, bland, dismal winter night is not. Yet this beautiful array of winter’s most boldly hued bounty + a few pantry staples will snap you out of any drown me in mac & cheese thoughts - at least for the whole 15 minutes it takes you wash and chop it up, and the 3 seconds it will take you to devour it. So 15 minutes and 3 seconds of seasonal escapism for your tongue to balance out the 492 minutes Bridgerton provided for your eyes and ears. I stand for experiential equality of the senses people. Let this salad help forge the path.
CARA CARA CHOP SALAD
— from Near and Far: Recipes Inspired by Home and Travel by Heidi Swanson (Ten Speed Press, 2015)
INGREDIENTS
¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
¼ teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
4 cups chopped radicchio
1 cup celery cut on the diagonal into ½ inch pieces
¼ cup chopped chives
1 cup Cara Cara orange segments, halved
½ cup torn mint leaves
1 cup peanuts, toasted and coarsely choppe
METHOD (Adapted)
To make the salad dressing, stir together the lime juice, salt, black pepper, and honey. Set this aside.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil and garlic. Gently toast the garlic until it is uniformly light brown, being careful not to burn it. Once toasted, scoop out the garlic with a slotted spoon, putting it on a paper towel and reserve the garlic oil in the skillet. Turn up the heat a bit and add the chopped radicchio. Stir-fry very briefly until the radicchio is slightly wilted and still crunchy. In a large bowl combine the celery, chives, orange segments, mint, peanuts – save a bit of each to use as a garnish if you like – and toss it all together with the radicchio, garlic, and salad dressing. Toss to coat. Garnish with any reserved mint, peanuts, celery, chives and/or orange segments.
