Citrus y Cebollas (Citrus and Onion Salad)

From The Hot Knives Vegetarian Cookbook: Salad Daze, Alex Brown and Evan George, Mark Batty Publisher, 2011.

When I saw Salad Daze in the bookshop I passed it over as with a quick glance it looked as though it would be a meaty book. It just goes to show how appearances can be so deceptive. It turned out to be not only truly vegetarian but a refreshingly different recipe book. It’s probably best summed up by a description by the authors themselves: ‘. . . we’re still nerds who just wanna work on our kitchen tricks in dirty cut-offs while drinking lukewarm twelve-per-cent-alcohol ales—and try to find some time to write about the new and fucked up things we’ve conjured up to do with vegetables.’

To start the salad I had to take some goat’s cheese, roll it into a ball and place it on a piece of plastic wrap. Another piece of plastic was placed over the cheese and it was rolled out to make a thin circle. This was then placed in the freezer. I made two of these for I was making two helpings of salad.

I now cut a white onion in half, took the outside round off and then sliced the remainder into julienne. These were placed in a bowl of cold water.

Next an orange was topped and tailed and the peel carefully cut off. The individual segments were now cut away, the juice being preserved as I went along. The orange segments went into the bowl with the juice.

Pomegranate seeds were added to the orange pieces. The onion was strained and added as well. A little extra virgin olive oil together with a little rice wine vinegar went in and, using my hands, I mixed the ingredients together to ensure they were well coated with the dressing.

I now added a good handful of mixed greens, mainly rocket, and folded them in until they were covered with the dressing.

It was now time to take the goat’s cheese from the freezer. The wrapping was peeled off and a round of cheese was placed on each plate. The salad was now carefully placed on the cheese base and a few more dribbles of dressing added.

This salad worked extremely well. Orange and onion are very good companions. It was a refreshing salad with the sweet orange and the pops of tang from the pomegranates blending with the goat’s cheese.

I was particularly impressed with the technique used for the goat’s cheese and will certainly be using it for future salads.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔