Here I present a spectacular vegetarian salad that probably everyone will enjoy, because they will all find something in it that they particularly like to eat, be it sweet or savoury. The chef at MAICh, John Apostolakis, makes this salad often in the winter, although it looks a little different to what I have presented here; he serves it up as student nosh, so it looks quite functional, but that feeling disappears when you try it. Eaten with some good quality sourdough bread, it is a complete meal.
You need:
some Cos lettuce, shredded (torn leaves don't work well here)
some citrus segments (chef uses orange segments cut in half, but grapefruit, tangerine or mandarin - which is what I used - also work well; make sure you remove the pith, as it spoils the texture of this salad)
some mushrooms, sliced thinly (canned mushrooms don't give the right flavour, but they will also do - I used some, ultra-expensive foodie-gourmet dried porcini mushrooms, reconstituted in white wine)
grated cheese, preferably something like Cretan graviera or regato
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt (optional)
Place the prepared lettuce and citrus fruit in a bowl. If using canned mushrooms, they must be drained very well before being added to the salad. The mushrooms (either fresh or canned) may be lightly sauteed in a little olive oil (like I did here) before being added to the salad, so that they wilt slightly but retain their shape and texture. Add them to the salad. The dressing depends on your personal preferences. Pour a few drops (or tablespoons as we would do in Crete!) of olive oil, and a little balsamic vinegar over the salad. Sprinkle with salt, again to your liking - warning: the cheese may be quite salty! Toss the salad lightly so that the ingredients are mixed well but the salad keeps its fullness.
Enjoy.
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I love your salad Maria and I think that the orange gives it that WOW factor!I tried a salad with pink grapefruit at a restaurant a wahile ago and it was really yummy, so I guess citrus in salads are a new fashion nowadays.
ReplyDeleteThat looks very good, I'm going to give it a go today. (I'm allergic to porcini mushrooms unfortunately) I picked up a very nice and easy Turkish (?) fish recipe in Greece last week and put in on the blog.
ReplyDeleteMmmmm, that looks so good and I have 2 cos lettuce plants happily producing glorious greeness - I raised them from seed.
ReplyDeleteWellington is finally getting summer, just as the schools re-open for the new school year - so that doesn't change!
Wow, looks great! Will try! :)
ReplyDeleteTell us about it Mickle...just came back from Welly and saw the sun for 5 out of 22 days...the 5th was on the day we left! Nevermind...we love it anyway!
ReplyDeleteHmm, maybe I'll give this a try, I have a bowl full of blood oranges on the coffee table that I think would work well with this!
ReplyDeleteI've never tried orange in this salad so I will give it a go. We are great fans of mushrooms and we collect wild ones too. In this salad I would also love baked oyster mushrooms (you can buy in the supermarket). Porcini mushrooms that I love, some years can be found here in kilos but not last autumn so I am sorry I can't send you some. I've managed to dry them myself. Next mushroom hunting is for morels at Easter time so if I dry some I will send you.
ReplyDeleteblood oranges are probably perfect for this dish - the more unusual the citrus, the better. i am not sure, though, about using lemons as a sitrus fruit here - too sour?
ReplyDeletemariza, i am waiting for those mushrooms! the ones i bought were greek, and i also like oyster mushrooms - they would be perfect in this salad too
This is a salad we just have to try. We really need to liven up our diets in the dead of winter with some refreshing fruits.
ReplyDeleteDelicious! Lately I've started adding citruses to my salads, too - oh my, what a freshness they give to them! I specially like the pink grapefruit. About lemon, better add its juice to the salad dressing.
ReplyDeleteI love this Maria! It has citrus which works well in salad and it looks quite healthy overall. Well done
ReplyDeleteI love oranges in salad as well. In fact I like all sorts of fruits in my salad!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds satisfying. Mushrooms and cheese always give vegetarian meals a lift, and I like the idea of the contrasting orange slices.
ReplyDeleteI love citrus segments in my salads. Have been having a field day with Cara Cara oranges here this winter. Thanks for putting some "Wow!" in my day, Maria.
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