Endive, Citrus & Avocado Salad

Here’s another classic combination that works so well: endive + avocado + citrus. Flavorwise, it’s bitter + sweet + tart. Texturewise, it’s crisp + creamy + cool. All of the elements play so nicely together.

This is the kind of salad you don’t need a recipe for, as the seasonings are minimal: olive oil, vinegar, fresh citrus juice, salt, and pepper. But I do think it’s worth sharing a few tips:

1. Use a variety of citrus. Pick oranges and grapefruits that will give you a mix of colors and levels of sweetness. Cara Cara oranges, for instance, are on the sweet side, so pairing them with a tart grapefruit is a good idea. Cara Cara’s are particularly beautiful, too, so if you can find them, I highly recommend, but all of the citrus we’ve been getting up here has been great, so use what is good from your markets/what you can find.
2. Cut the citrus in a variety of shapes. Mostly for visual appear but also for the eating experience, it’s nice to cut the citrus in different shapes: I like cutting the oranges into rounds and the grapefruit into segments.
3. Use your hands to toss. Orange segments and avocado slices are delicate. When you toss and plate with your hands, you can better preserve their integrity.
4. Serve with a knife and fork . As some of the orange slices are on the large side here, it’s nice to serve this salad with a knife and fork.

This is the kind of salad I feel I could eat every night: so refreshing and light, but completely satisfying, too.

PS: Teri’s Boxing Day Salad

Here’s the play-by-play:Gather your ingredients: Belgian endive, Cara Cara oranges if you can find them, avocado, and grapefruit.

Trim the ends of the citrus, remove the peel with a knife, and cut the oranges into slices and the grapefruit into segments. Squeeze the juice of the peelings over top.

Add chopped endive and avocado.

Season with flaky sea salt, such asMaldon, if you have it.

Toss gently.

Add a tablespoon of white balsamic vinegar (or other) and toss gently again.

Add Boston lettuce, toss gently again, then transfer to a platter.

Shave Parmigiano Reggiano over top, if you if you wish.

Season with freshly cracked black pepper to taste.

• 2 oranges, Cara Cara are nice if you can find them
• 1 grapefruit
• 1 avocado
• 2 Belgian endive
• flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, or other salt
• 1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar (or other)
• 1 head Boston or Bibb lettuce, leaves roughly chopped or torn
• extra-virgin olive oil to taste
• freshly cracked black pepper to taste
• Parmigiano Reggiano, to taste

1. Slice off the end of each orange. Squeeze the juice from each end into a large bowl. Working with one orange at a time, stand it on its flat end. Use your knife to slice down around the orange to remove the skin. Hug the flesh as you slice—it’s better to lose some flesh in the rind than to have pith clinging to the flesh. Squeeze the rinds into the large bowl. Turn the orange on its side and slice down crosswise to create 1/2-inch thick slices. Repeat with remaining orange. Place orange slices in the bowl with the squeezed juice.
2. Peel the grapefruit in the same fashion, but instead of slicing it into rounds, remove each segment by running a knife along the white membrane holding each segment in place. Drop each segment into the bowl with the oranges and juice. Once the segments have all been released, squeeze what’s left of the grapefruit over top.
3. Slice each endive in half through its core; then cut crosswise to create 1-inch wide pieces. Place the endive in the bowl with the citrus.
4. Halve the avocado, remove the pit, cut the flesh into slices, then add to the bowl with the citrus. Season with sea salt and the 1 tablespoon of white balsamic vinegar. Toss gently with your hands. Add the Boston lettuce and toss gently again with your hands.
5. Transfer the salad, again using your hands, to a large serving platter. (Note: Using your hands is important because it’s such a delicate salad. You want to preserve the integrity of each of the components as much as possible, so a gentle toss is critical.) Season all over lightly with sea salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle all over with olive oil to taste. Shave Parmigiano Reggiano over top using a vegetable peeler. Crack more pepper over top if you wish.
6. Serve with a knife and fork.

• Prep Time: 25 minutes

• Category: Salad

• Method: Toss

• Cuisine: American, Italian, French

• 2 oranges, Cara Cara are nice if you can find them

• 1 grapefruit

• 1 avocado

• 2 Belgian endive

• flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, or other salt

• 1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar (or other)

• 1 head Boston or Bibb lettuce, leaves roughly chopped or torn

• extra-virgin olive oil to taste

• freshly cracked black pepper to taste

• Parmigiano Reggiano, to taste

1. Slice off the end of each orange. Squeeze the juice from each end into a large bowl. Working with one orange at a time, stand it on its flat end. Use your knife to slice down around the orange to remove the skin. Hug the flesh as you slice—it’s better to lose some flesh in the rind than to have pith clinging to the flesh. Squeeze the rinds into the large bowl. Turn the orange on its side and slice down crosswise to create 1/2-inch thick slices. Repeat with remaining orange. Place orange slices in the bowl with the squeezed juice.
2. Peel the grapefruit in the same fashion, but instead of slicing it into rounds, remove each segment by running a knife along the white membrane holding each segment in place. Drop each segment into the bowl with the oranges and juice. Once the segments have all been released, squeeze what’s left of the grapefruit over top.
3. Slice each endive in half through its core; then cut crosswise to create 1-inch wide pieces. Place the endive in the bowl with the citrus.
4. Halve the avocado, remove the pit, cut the flesh into slices, then add to the bowl with the citrus. Season with sea salt and the 1 tablespoon of white balsamic vinegar. Toss gently with your hands. Add the Boston lettuce and toss gently again with your hands.
5. Transfer the salad, again using your hands, to a large serving platter. (Note: Using your hands is important because it’s such a delicate salad. You want to preserve the integrity of each of the components as much as possible, so a gentle toss is critical.) Season all over lightly with sea salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle all over with olive oil to taste. Shave Parmigiano Reggiano over top using a vegetable peeler. Crack more pepper over top if you wish.
6. Serve with a knife and fork.

• Prep Time: 25 minutes
• Category: Salad
• Method: Toss
• Cuisine: American, French, Italian

Find it online : https://alexandracooks.com/2020/01/31/endive-citrus-avocado-salad/

If you’re wondering how you might up your crudité game, here’s a thought: pickle some of the vegetables. For very minimal effort, pickling transforms vegetables from simply being raw to being raw with a bite and a brightness. It softens them ever so slightly, too, rendering them less snappy in texture, but still crisp and fresh.

This time of year, I particularly love pickled carrots and cauliflower, but radishes, turnips, and fennel are good options, too. In combination with un-pickled spears of endive, sturdy Romaine lettuce leaves, wedges of radicchio (or Treviso if you can find it), your crudité platter will never be so delicious or look more inviting.

Simple Refrigerator Pickles How-To:

You can scale this recipe up as needed — I often make 4x or 6x the recipe — and if you wish to add other seasonings such as garlic or pepper flakes, go for it … more and more I can’t be bothered 🙂

1. Bring to a simmer: 1 cup each vinegar and water with 2 teaspoons each salt and sugar.
2. Pack vegetables into clean, glass jars.
3. Pour pickling liquid over top. A funnel helps with this. Let cool to room temperature.
4. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours (though longer is better) before serving.

Pickled vegetables are delicious on their own — so nice to have on hand when you need a little snack — but especially good with some sort of dip. This almost ranch dip made with Greek yogurt has become a favorite, but I have another cashew-based one to share soon (stay tuned).

Here’s the play-by-play:gather your vegetables: I love using carrots and cauliflower.

Slice the carrots lengthwise in half; cut the cauliflower into large-ish florets.

Pack the vegetables into glass jars… whatever you have on hand.

Bring to a simmer: 1 cup each water and vinegar, 2 teaspoons each salt and sugar. Note: I’m doing 6x the recipe here.

Use a funnel to pour the pickling liquid over the top of the vegetables. Let cool completely. Then refrigerate overnight.

Lightly dry off before arranging onto a platter.

Gather other vegetables: Romaine leaves, endive, radish, radicchio (or Treviso).

Heap everything onto a platter and serve with your favorite dip.

Description

This is a simple formula adapted from David Lebovitz’s pickled radish recipe . It can be scaled as needed and used to pickle many a vegetable: peppers, onions, fennel, cauliflower, broccoli, shallots, turnips, kohlrabi … you name it.

Notes:

• Most recently, I pickled 1.5 lbs carrots and 1 large head cauliflower. For this amount of vegetables, I did 6x the recipe, which comes out to be: 6 cups each water and vinegar, and 1/4 cup each salt and sugar.

• Look for slender carrots if possible: halving them lengthwise before pickling makes for a nice presentation.

• I like to cut cauliflower into large-ish florets, also for presentation purposes.

• 1 cup water

• 1 cup vinegar (white, apple cider, white balsamic, champagne—any white vinegar)

• 2 teaspoons kosher salt

• 2 teaspoons sugar

• 4 cups (roughly) thinly sliced or roughly chopped vegetables: onions, carrots, turnips, radishes, peppers, fennel, shallots, cauliflower etc.

1. In a large non-reactive saucepan, bring the water, vinegar, salt, and sugar to a boil, until the sugar and salt are dissolved. ( See notes above for scaling this recipe up. )
2. Meanwhile, place the sliced vegetables in glass jars.
3. Pour the brine over top. Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate. Store for weeks in the fridge if not longer.

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 5 minutes
• Category: Pickle
• Method: Refrigerator
• Cuisine: American