Bitter Leaves, Orange and Parmesan Cheese Salad

I totally forgot to mention in my previous pasta recipes posts that pasta is the best served with a leafy salad. If pasta is fuel for you, salad is oil for your engine. Your Ferrari won’t drive without oil!

This is one of the favorite salads in our family. Bitter sweet symphony. Sweet cos lettuce, bitter radicchio, tender Belgian endive, super sweet and juicy Gisborne orange, and acidic vinaigrette. Classic recipe. No sugar or sweetener required. Sprinkle the salad with grated Parmesan cheese generously.

Radicchio is a small, colourful veggie with a punch of flavour, with a chewy texture and slightly bitter taste.It is actually a type of chicory. The bitterness of radicchio adds the citrus salad an extra balance in taste, and make it more complex.

Belgian endive (aka chicory or witlof) is a bitter, cream-coloured vegetable shaped like a torpedo. It has pale colour because it’s grown in complete darkness as the result is the mellow and tender endive. Serve endive with sweet and sour flavours to balance out the endive’s bitterness: the citrus dressing works great here. This vegetable also works well with cheese in different forms.

Bitter Leaves, Orange and Parmesan Cheese Salad

Recipe by Leno RegushCourse: Salads, Sides, AppetizersCuisine: Italian, ClassicDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Bitter sweet symphony. Sweet cos lettuce, bitter radicchio and Belgian endive, super sweet and juicy Gisborne orange, and acidic vinaigrette. Classic recipe. No sugar or sweetener required. Sprinkle with shaved Parmesan cheese generously.

Ingredients

• one bag of cos lettuce leaves (or one head), wash, drain and torn into bite size pieces

• a few leaves of radicchio, wash, drain and torn into bite size pieces

• one Belgian endive (or a few leaves), wash, drain and torn into bite size pieces

• one large orange, peeled and cut into segments (reserve the rest for the salad dressing)

• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (use a microplane grater if you have it)

• Orange vinaigrette

• 1 Tsp Dijon mustard

• 1 Tsp white vinegar

• 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive oil

• 1 Tbs orange juice

• salt

• black pepper

Directions

• For the dressing. Mix the Dijon mustard and vinegar in a bowl using a whisk, pour olive oil little by little continuously whisking. Whisk in the orange orange juice. Season with salt and pepper. Add more vinegar if you prefer more acidic taste.
• Place the leafy greens into a big mixing bowl. Drizzle with the citrus dressing. Toss the leaves gently. Spread the leaves on a serving dish. Top with the orange slices. Sprinkle with the finely grated Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.