Over the holidays, I was asked to bring a salad to a dinner party.  I realized that I didn’t have any kale, spinach or lettuce left, but since my niece’s high school had a fundraiser recently, we happened to have bought two cases of citrus fruit!  Citrus Salad would be our contribution then!

I have to admit that the holidays always tempt me with favourite comfort foods and decadent treats, that I really crave my favourite salads.  Au lieu of all the heavy foods during the holidays, I really want light and refreshing foods.  Citrus is always what I go for.  This citrus salad totally makes sense when you just want those uplifting flavours.

This is quite possibly one of the easiest salads to put together.  It’s flavourful and refreshing, and very festive!

citrus salad

Ingredients:

• 2 pink grapefruit
• 2 navel oranges
• 2 mandarin oranges
• 2 tangerines
• 3-4 tbsp finely chopped red onion
• *1/4 c red currants
• pinch of Himalayan sea salt
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp local honey
• *freshly chopped tarragon to garnish

* You can substitute the red currants with pomegranate seeds or dried cranberries.  If you don’t have fresh tarragon or do not like the flavour of tarragon, you can use fresh mint.

To Assemble:

1. Peel all the citrus fruit, removing as much of the pith as possible.  Remove seeds as well.
2. Cut into round slices and arrange on serving platter.  Sprinkle red onion, red currants and freshly chopped tarragon over the citrus slices.
3. In a bowl, whisk together the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, honey, and salt.  Once well-combined, drizzle over citrus salad.

Enjoy!  This citrus salad is bright, light, refreshing, and a change from a green salad.  My seven year old loves this salad too.  It’s also a nice surprise for friends and family since I usually bring a spinach salad or kale salad.  People usually expect a green salad, so this time I surprised them!