I created and made this salad for the first time at the Ranch kitchen. I always love cooking citrus and lettuces, because it’s unexpected; when you roast them, they become almost meaty in texture. When I saw the wood burning pizza oven at the Ranch kitchen, I decided to roast both endives and blood orange, also using fresh orange segments and endive leaves to balance the salad. Pine nut breadcrumbs are cooked with soy sauce for umami, butter for richness and finely chopped herbs. Using breadcrumbs instead of croutons for salad is from my years of cooking Italian cuisine professionally. Building this salad is the key; each layer needs to have evenly distributed roasted, raw endives and oranges, and pine nut crumble. I like to finish the salad with some tableside squeezing of orange to tie all the ingredients together.
| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 50 min |
| Active: | 50 min |
| Yield: | 4 to 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
- 1/2 cup pine nuts
- 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro stems
- 1/4 cup Thai basil, sliced
- 1 lemon
- Kosher salt
- 6 endives
- 3 blood oranges
- 1/4 cup grapeseed oil
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 Cara Cara oranges, 1 cut into segments and 1 juiced
Instructions
- For the citrus dressing: In a large bowl, mix the rice vinegar, sugar, orange juice, lime juice, soy sauce and mustard together well, making sure the sugar is completely dissolved. Drizzle the grapeseed oil into the mixture. Set aside.
- For the pine nut herb crumble: Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the pine nuts and toss to toast them until the aroma is released, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the breadcrumbs and sesame oil, then toss and mix well until the breadcrumbs are golden and hot, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Remove the skillet from the heat and mix in the chives, cilantro stems and basil. Use a rasp to zest the lemon into the skillet, then toss and mix well. Let the crumble cool down before using. Season with salt.
- For the grilled endives and blood orange: Preheat a square grill pan over high heat and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Slice 5 endives lengthwise into halves, then separate the remaining endive into leaves. Arrange the endive halves on a tray with the cut sides up and set aside. Slice off the blood orange peels with a knife, keeping the oranges as round as possible. Cut the oranges into 1/2-inch-thick round discs (each orange should make 3 to 4 discs). Line the discs up on the tray next to the endives. Drizzle the grapeseed oil all over the endives and blood oranges, make sure each endive and both sides of the oranges are coated, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Grill the oiled endive cut-side down. Immediately transfer the grill pan to the oven and allow the endive to roast until deep golden brown, about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat another square grill pan over high heat. Add the blood orange slices to the grill pan and sprinkle on the sugar. Immediately transfer the pan to the oven and roast alongside the endives, about 5 minutes.
- Add the grilled endives to the citrus dressing and toss well. Place the grilled and raw endives on a serving platter. Place the grilled blood oranges alongside the endives and add the Cara Cara orange segments. Drizzle with the Cara Cara juice and sprinkle the pine nut crumble all over.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 321 |
| Total Fat | 22 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Carbohydrates | 31 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Sugar | 22 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg |
| Sodium | 555 mg |