Recipe

April 10, 2020

Southern Italian/Cold NYC Winter Salad

Recipe: Antoni Porowski

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

“Cutting the fennel as thin as humanly possible dials back some of the intensity of the anisey flavor, giving you more delicate but still crunchy strands of translucent goodness,” says Queer Eye‘s culinary expert, Antoni Porowski. “Chilling the citrus makes the salad extra refreshing.”

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp shelled, unsalted pistachios
  • 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • Kosher salt
  • 2 blood oranges or Cara Cara oranges, chilled
  • 1 pink grapefruit, preferably small, chilled
  • 1 navel orange, chilled
  • 1 medium to large fennel bulb, preferably with fronds, stalks removed and fronds reserved (optional); bulb cut lengthwise in half, cored and very thinly sliced
  • Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 1⁄2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Directions

Yield: Serves 4

Roast Pistachios

  1. Heat oven to 350°F, with rack in middle. Spread pistachios on small baking sheet (or pie plate) and toast until fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately toss with 1⁄2 teaspoon of oil and generous pinch of kosher salt, then transfer to plate to cool. Coarsely chop.

Make Salad

  1. Using sharp paring knife, trim off tops and bottoms of citrus fruits to expose flesh. Stand one piece of fruit on end and cut away peel and white pith, following curve of fruit from top to bottom.
  2. Repeat with remaining citrus, then cut all fruit crosswise into 1⁄4″-thick slices. Cut one slice (your choice of fruit) into small wedges and set aside for garnish. Arrange remaining slices, slightly overlapping, on serving platter.
  3. In medium bowl, toss together fennel, generous pinch each of flaky salt and pepper, and 2 tablespoons of oil, then arrange over citrus. If you have fennel fronds, coarsely chop enough to yield 1 to 2 tablespoons.
  4. Drizzle salad with lemon juice, then top with pistachios, reserved citrus wedges, a couple good pinches of flaky salt and fennel fronds, if using.
Photographer:

Paul Brissman

Source:

Adapted from Antoni in the Kitchen by Antoni Porowski with Mindy Fox. Photography © 2019 by Paul Brissman. Reproduced by permission of Rux Martin Books/Houghton Mi in Harcourt.