Grape, Orange, and Pomegranate Salad

There is No Single Star in This Show.

I’m back with another very good salad. This one only contains fruit. While I commonly add fruit to many salads, there just happened to be no need for anything else in this one. The flavors and textures were perfect as is – sweet, tart, a little earthy, juicy, and crunchy. Each ingredient compliments and enhances the others. Sometimes, you simply hit on a perfect combination and this is one of those times.

But there is a story here that I’ve gotta tell you. Right before Christmas I received a grocery delivery in which I had ordered 5 large navel oranges. As my son was bringing in the groceries he remarked something to the effect of how I must have some big plans for oranges. I was in a different room and just thought he was commenting on the oranges I’d ordered. To say I was stunned when I went into the kitchen and saw what was sitting on my counter is really a gross understatement.

It was closer to a state of shock. Now, it comes as no surprise to those of you who know me that I love most all things citrus. But when I took a closer look and realized that instead of 5 single oranges, I’d received 5 bags of oranges, each one containing 8 pounds of oranges, it almost pushed me over the edge. This was right before Christmas, I had all kinds of celebration meals planned. I couldn’t have been more busy baking, prepping, etc. 40 pounds of oranges was more than I could bear thinking about at the moment.

Thank goodness for spare refrigerators. I stuck all those oranges in there and moved on with the holiday. After Christmas I set my mind to figuring out what I was going to do with this forced abundance of oranges. My son got to work candying several batches of thick slices of oranges. I made a couple quarts of orange marmalade with chilies, countless orange salads, broiled orange halves, orange and chicken sheet pan roasts, and on and on and on. 

For dinner one evening, I was in the midst of making another orange salad when I decided to slice up some grapes and add them to the mix. Grapes have been particularly great lately and I had both black and purple grapes on hand, so in they went. I sliced off the peels of a couple of oranges, cut them into segments (supremes), and added them to the bowl. Then I went for pomegranate arils (seeds) because I knew their bright sweet/tart flavor, along with their crunchiness would be perfect with the grapes and oranges. 

Very little dressing was necessary, but I love lime in this type of situation. There is something about lime juice and zest that really brings these flavors together, besides being so floral and aromatic. A tablespoon of maple syrup, along with salt and pepper, gave me an almost perfect dressing. But it needed a little more zing. So, I added a teaspoon of calamansi vinegar. That’s all it took. Now the dressing was outstanding. I’ve spoken of my fondness for this vinegar may times, but it bears repeating. It’s like no other vinegar. It’s so much more than vinegar. It’s like citrus on steroids, but not harsh in any way. If you’ve never tried it, I highly encourage you to do so. It’s not cheap, but a little goes a long way. It sometimes goes on sale at Milk Street or La Boîte, but they run out of stock quickly because it isn’t produced in large volume. If you don’t have it, you can still enjoy this salad by adding a little more lime juice, along with a little orange juice.

When I served it up I gave everyone a lime wedge to squeeze on top and I was very pleasantly surprised at its reception. This very simple dish is one of those things that is so much more than its individual parts. It is fantastic. We decided on the spot to make it again so that I could post and share it. Since then I’ve made it several more times. It enhances a multitude of main courses. Roast chicken, skillet pork chops, side dish for a quiche, etc. It’s really outstanding.

Now, even though I’ve been constantly eating and preparing oranges in myriad ways, there are still a whole lot of those suckers sitting in my fridge. It’s one of those deals where I could swear that the more I use, the more they seem to appear. Every time I cut one up for a salad I zest it first and I now have a huge stash of orange zest in my freezer, which I love. None of these oranges are going to waste. 

This week I’m going to make my Orange Buttermilk Sheet Cake . Well, that will only use up 1 orange. See what I mean? Not exactly a big dent in my never ending supply. Thank goodness none of us get tired of oranges. I’m also working on a recipe for orange corn muffins. I’ll let you know how this comes along. But in the meantime, every time I open up that fridge I’m confronted with an almost unbelievable spectacle. Row upon row of oranges. This will forever be known as my Winter of Oranges. I really can’t complain.