Clementine and Green Olive Salad

One of Charlie’s all time faves, this. The sort of salad dreams are made of.

Made from things you’ll have about for the holidays, we’ll wager. Not vegan on account of the honey but I’m sure you clever bunch’ll sort an alternative with ease.

30 mins with the peeling | serves 8 | easy

Ingredients 

10 clementines or so

2 oranges, peeled with a sharp knife

200g good quality pitted green olives

3 heads red chicory, sliced

sesame seeds

dressing: 

1 tsp fennel seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

red wine vinegar

honey

olive oil

salt and black pepper

juice from the oranges – we’ll explain in a mo

Method

Peel your clementines, being careful to de-pith as much as poss, and separate the segments into a large serving dish.

Segment the peeled oranges by cutting in between the flesh and the skin on each side of each segment, get it? Hold the oranges over a small bowl to catch the juice as you go for the dressing.

Toast the fennel and cumin seeds in a small frying pan for a minute or so to give off their aroma and then add a spoon of honey and two spoons of red wine vinegar to the pan. Stir or whisk briskly, pour into the bowl with the orange juice. Stir together and pour in some olive oil – you’ll know when. Mix thoroughly.

Add the olives and chicory to the clementines and orange segments and pour the dressing over. Toss to fully cover and serve with sesame seed sprinkles.

Can’t remember where we first saw this recipe and all attempts to find it online have been fruitless. We first ate this about 12 years ago so you can trust us when we say the exact recipe we saw isn’t out there surfing the net. We’ve been working our way back to the complex taste range gradually over the years, and we think we’ve cracked it at last.

If there’s anyone out there that can point us to the original please get in touch!

Very best, charlie.