Cranberry Citrus Salad

A show-stopper salad that takes advantage of winter produce.  Filled with cranberries and oranges this salad will brighten up any meal!

Cranberry Citrus Salad

I love a really good salad.  This one uses produce found during the winter months and is a great side salad to all types of meat.  The presentation is outstanding on this salad and is completely company worthy but also perfect for the crowd at home.  I served this on Christmas Day and found that is was actually my favorite dish of the whole meal.  It's that good!

A light and fresh salad that is bursting with tart fresh cranberries and sweet juicy Cara Cara oranges.  You also get a little bite from some red onion, and crunch from the celery.  All of this sits a top of a bed of spicy arugula and is sprinkled with some mint for another pop of freshness.  This is one heck of a salad!

What goes with this salad?

• This salad can go with any type of protein, beef, fish, pork, or chicken.
• I served this at Christmas along with Filet Mignon's.
• Serve with a nice crusty bread on the side
• Serve with Grilled Balsamic Chicken, Red Wine and Rosemary Flat Iron Steak, Fig and Ginger Glazed Pork Tenderloins

What Ingredients do I need?

• fresh cranberries
• Cara Cara oranges
• celery
• red onion
• sugar
• lemon juice
• ginger - i used pureed ginger
• arugula
• fresh mint - this really makes the dish
• olive oil

Substitutions and Variations

• Use Navel oranges instead of Cara Cara
• Use escarole or red leaf lettuce instead of arugula
• I would use fresh cranberries if available.  Frozen cranberries will work too, just be sure to thaw them
• don't like mint?  leave it off
• use shallot instead of red onion
• add sunflower seeds for added crunch
• Blood oranges would work nicely as a substitution

Kitchen Tips and Notes

• Start this salad earlier in the day. The cranberry topping need to meld together for 1 hour before serving.
• A food processor makes quick work of chopping the cranberries.  Use the pulse feature.
• If you don't like a really strong onion flavor cut them and place them in cold water for 15 minutes.  This will cut down on the bite of the onion.
• Cutting segments from an orange is called supreme.  This process gets rid of the membranes between the segments and any bitter white pith. You will end up with prettier and tastier fruit slices.  YouTube has videos on how to do this technique.

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Cranberry Citrus Salad

serves 4

1 cup fresh cranberries
2 Cara Cara oranges
1/2 cup celery, sliced
1/4 cup red onion, diced
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
3 cups arugula
2 Tablespoon fresh mint, chopped
1 Tablespoon olive oil

In a food processor add cranberries and pulse 5 times to coarsely chop, or chop by hand.  Transfer to a bowl.  Cut peel from the oranges making sure that there is no with pith left on the orange.  Cut sections from the orange over the bowl with the cranberries to catch any juice.  Add sections to the cranberries.  Add the celery, onion, sugar, lemon juice, and ginger.  Stir to combine.  Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

In a medium bowl toss arugula with the mint and the oil.  Place on a platter and top with the cranberry orange mixture.  Serve.  

adapted from BHG.com