Originally posted by Sarah – December 30, 2015
We were busy today, out and about for most of the afternoon. We stopped to have lunch late at a fun place in Andover. That left us only open for a light dinner tonight. So, this one is great for a small meal, possibly a lunch or a side dish? It’s almost dessert like with the citrus.
To start this salad you need to segment an orange, or any citrus you choose. I like the sweetness and bright color of an orange. Zest a bit of the orange into a small dish and begin the segmenting process.
Using your knife simply run down the side of the fruit following the natural curve of the fruit. You want to remove the entire skin as well as the white pith. Your orange should look like the one in the photo above.
You can see the lines running through the fruit, that is your cutting guide. If you carefully slice just on the inside of the lines you will pop out a segment of fruit, repeat until the orange is completely segmented.
Notice the extra juice on the plate? Pour that juice into the same small dish with your zest, you will use that as well. Arrange the segments on your plate in whatever fun way you wish.
Into the small dish add 1/2 a cup of ricotta cheese. I like to use whole milk ricotta, it has a much more luscious flavor and texture to it. Mix it together with the orange zest, a pinch of salt, and orange juice as well as 2 Tablespoons of finely chopped fresh mint. (Here is where I’m missing the Springdell fresh herb garden!) If you aren’t a mint person or you would like to go a bit on the savory side you can add dill here instead of mint.
Place the mixture on your plate with the orange segments.
Last step is to add the beets. I had one beet left in my fridge from my previous roasting session. I chopped that into little pieces, a bit smaller than bite sized, and sprinkled them on the plate.
Fast, light, simple, tasty. Enjoy!