Sunday, April 24, 2011

Salad of castelfranco, hazelnuts and oranges with pink papaya seed dressing











What a delicious and visually stunning salad! The recipe for the salad comes from the UK's Independent (I've omitted the internal recipe for a Dijon-red wine vinegar dressing and used a pink papaya seed dressing instead). The recipe for the papaya seed dressing comes from epicurious.

Ingredients for the Salad of Castelfranco, hazelnuts and oranges:
1 small head of castelfranco or radicchio, washed, torn into strips and gently patted dry (Adrienne's note: for presentation purposes, keep about 8 of the smaller inner pink leaves whole)
2 oranges, peeled, all pith removed and sliced into pinwheels-- blood oranges are best for this recipe if you can get them
A handful of hazelnuts

Ingredients for papaya seed dressing:
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp English-style dry mustard
1 cup tarragon vinegar
1 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup minced onion
1 papaya, halved, reserving 3 tbsp of the seeds and reserving the fruit for another use

Directions for the papaya seed dressing:
In a blender or food processor blend the sugar, the salt, the mustard, and the vinegar until the mixture is smooth. With the motor running add the oil in a stream and blend the dressing util it is emulsified. Add the onion and the reserved papaya seeds and blend the dressing until the papaya seeds are the consistency of ground pepper. The dressing keeps, covered and chilled, for 2 weeks.

Adrienne's notes and further instructions:
I used a red onion for the papaya seed dressing, which resulted in a baby pink dressing that complemented the pink-streaked inner leaves of the castelfranco. To make the salad, arrange some of the nicer pink leaves in a sunburst formation at the outer edge of the plate. Mound the strips of castelfranco in the center of the sunburst. Drizzle pink papaya seed dressing all over the greens, top with hazelnuts and orange segments. I ate this salad like a Neanderthal, mounding up the shredded castelfranco, hazelnuts, and oranges inside the whole leaves and eating it like a taco with my hands.

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