Catalonia 8: CURLY ENDIVE AND BITTER ORANGE SALAD 🌞

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CURLY ENDIVE AND BITTER ORANGE SALAD

Ingredients (for 4 people)

1 curly endive
4 bitter oranges
mineral water
extra virgin olive oil
salt
purple olives

Preparation

1. Peel oranges and halve.

2. Boil in salted water for approximately 15 minutes or until the pulp is
soft. Let cool in the same water.

3. Clean curly endive with plenty of water and use a salad spinner to
extract all the moisture.

4. Arrange endive leaves on each plate.

5. Drain orange, cut and place over endive. Add purple olives.

6. Season with a pinch of salt and a good splash of oil.

Comments

An endive and bitter orange salad with a few olives is a good option for
winter, when tomatoes are not at their best. Sometimes you can even add
some preserved cabbage, or bleeding milk-caps preserved in vinaigrette
during autumn.

Preserved bitter oranges are an ancient preparation introduced to
Catalonia in the 11th century, whereas the sweet orange tree arrived in the
14th century. The bitter type are the original oranges known in China since
around 2500 BCE and described around 100 BCE by Roman writers, who
called them the golden apples of the Hesperides. A few centuries later,
however, it was substituted for sweeter and more edible varieties
introduced by the Arabs and the Portuguese.

Small, 6 to 8 cm, with a very thick skin and acid pulp, it is often used in
cooking to make salads, marmalades, or preserves. There are many
sweet and sour recipes dating back to medieval times, such as duck
with fruit, apple salad, and chards with raisins and pine nuts. In winter,
combine with a dish of boiled cabbage and potatoes.

From "Roots Catalan" by Joan Roca

Bitterness underutilized in most cuisine, not Catalan! Enjoy the pucker!