Italian winter salads are a very different animal from the mixed green salads you’ll typically enjoy in the summertime. They rely heavily on bitter greens like radicchio and often include seasonal fruits like oranges as well as dried fruits, which for Italians also include nuts. Here’s one that perhaps encapsulates the genre like no other: insalata di radicchio, arance e noci, an utterly simple yet elegant salad of radicchio, oranges and walnuts.
As simple as it is, this salad produces a beguilingly complex combination of contrasting colors, textures and flavors—the crunch and slight bitterness of the scarlet red radicchio, the sweet/sour of plump orange wedges, the chewy nuttiness of the walnuts and the silky, peppery bite of the olive oil.
It’s a salad I make often this time of year. I made it the other day for a friend who came for lunch, and it occurred to me that I’d never bothered to blog about it. Maybe because it’s so utterly simple, almost a non-recipe. But the combination is worth noting and, like many simple dishes, there are still some a few pointers to keep in mind including your choice of ingredients.
And if you like to mix things up, there are multiple ways to dress it up with additional components, dressings and toppings.
Ingredients
Serves 4-6 as an antipasto or side
- 2 heads of radicchio
- 2 oranges
- A handful of walnuts, to taste
For the dressing:
- best quality olive oil
- salt, preferably fine sea salt
Directions
If using radicchio Treviso tardivo as pictured here, trim off the bottom and separate the slender leaves. If using the round Chioggia or most other varieties of radicchio, cut the head in quarters, trim off the core, then cut the leaves into strips.
Arrange the radichio leaves on individual serving plates or in a salad bowl.
Peel the orange and trim off any stray filaments and pith. Separate the sections (you can cut each section in half lengthwise if very large) and arrange them on top or in between the radicchio leaves.
Crumble the shelled walnuts in your hand and sprinkle them here and there.
Drizzle with the olive oil, then sprinkle with salt to taste.
Serve right away.
Notes on insalata di radicchio arance e noci
There’s a saying in Italian that to dress a salad properly, you should be spendthrift with the oil, miserly with the vinegar and judicious with the salt. The saying certainly applies here, though you can be such a miser that you omit the vinegar altogether if you like. The oranges already provide the touch of acidity that vinegar would bring to the table, so to speak. And for me at least, it is enough. But if you do want a bit more acidity, do be discreet.
For more on dressing salads all’italiana, see this post.
Otherwise, as with any recipe as simple as this, the result will depend on your choice and the quality of ingredients.
Choosing and prepping the radicchio
Any type of radicchio you please will work, including the commonly found round Chioggia radicchio. But personally I love this salad made with Treviso, which has more delicate leaves. This time of year, you’re likely to find the unusual Treviso tardivo, with its slender leaves pictured here. They make for an even more visually striking salad.
As detailed in this post, radicchio comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. You will prep each type slightly differently but the aim is always to end up with leaves that will blend well with your orange sections. The slender leaves of a Treviso tardivo need only be cut from the core and separated, but the larger leaves of a Treviso precoce or the common Chioggia will need to be cut into pieces. A Castelfranco, on the other hand, can be handled very much like a head of lettuce, with the leaves left whole or, if very large, torn with your hands.
Choosing and prepping the orange
Again, any type of orange will do. Orange varietals tend to be very local, but here in North America I find that the Sumos or Cara Caras are both lovely choices. They have lovely sweet favor and also peel and separate easily. You could also go with clementines or mandarin oranges.
But good old standard Navel oranges will also work just fine—but since their peel won’t come off easily, you’ll need to peel them with a knife. Trim off a bit of the top and bottom, then place the trimmed orange on a cutting board and trim off the skin by running the blade right under the sking from top to bottom. See this video for a demonstration.
Speaking of which, especially if you’re working with an orange that doesn’t separate easily, you can slice them across the grain into rounds if you prefer rather than separating the sections. Or use a knife to remove the sections by inserting the blade between sections. It’s fussy work but not difficult. Here’s a quick demo.
It’s important to remove most if not all of the pith (the white stuff under the zest) that clings to the peeled orange, as it is very bitter. But for me at least, I find a little bit of pith adds character, so I’m not meticulous about it.
Choosing the olive oil
Best quality extra virgin olive oil is critical to the success of the dish. The oil won’t just add a silky texture, but also flavor. You can follow your personal preference here, but I like a fruity oil with a rather peppery finish, which compliments well the radicchio and orange. My favorite olive oil tend to come from Puglia and Sicily.
Variations
Switching up the type of radicchio and orange already makes this a pretyy variably salad. But there’s more you can do to vary this salad:
- You can add more components to the dish. A few green lettuce leaves, for instance, or perhaps some watercress, add yet another color to the palette. A few strips of fennel adds white and a lovely anice scent.
- You could also vary the topping. Instead of or in addition to the walnuts, you could sprinkle of some pomegrante seeds.
- As for the dressing, if you want a bit more acidity, you could sprinkle a bit of white wine vinegar (not too much) or freshly squeezed lemon or orange juice. Some recipes have you make a proper vinaigrette. Freshly ground pepper adds a bit of spice. Best of all in my book, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar marries beautifully with the taste of radicchio and orange and lends a visually striking touch.
Making the salad ahead
You can arrange the components for your insalata di radicchio arance e noci ahead of time, then dress it right before serving. A few recipes will actually have you macerate the radicchio in a vinaigrette, something that doesn’t appeal to me, but I imagine that the sturdy leaves of a Chioggia would stand up fairly well to that treatment, at the cost of some of their crispness.
Insalata di radicchio arance e noci
Ingredients
- 2 heads of radicchio
- 2 oranges
- A handful of walnuts to taste
For the dressing:
- best quality olive oil
- salt preferably fine sea salt
Instructions
- If using radicchio Treviso tardivo as pictured here, trim off the bottom and separate the slender leaves. If using the round Chioggia or most other varieties of radicchio, cut the head in quarters, trim off the core, then cut the leaves into strips.
- Arrange the radichio leaves on individual serving plates or in a salad bowl.
- Peel the orange and trim off any stray filaments and pith. Separate the sections (you can cut each section in half lengthwise if very large) and arrange them on top or in between the radicchio leaves.
- Crumble the shelled walnuts in your hand and sprinkle them here and there.
- Drizzle with the olive oil, then sprinkle with salt to taste.
- Serve right away.
Nutrition
Discover more from Memorie di Angelina
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
And you might also like...
Scaloppine ai funghi (Scaloppini with Mushrooms)
Salsicce all’uva (Sausages and Grapes)
Frittata al basilico (Fresh Basil Frittata)
Ribollita (Tuscan Minestrone)
Carpaccio di salmone affumicato (Smoked Salmon Carpaccio)
Frittelle di fiori di zucca (Zucchini Blossom Pancakes)
Asparagi all’agro (Asparagus with Lemon and Olive Oil)
Frico
Agnello brodettato (Roman Easter Lamb Stew)
Pasta con zucca e funghi (Pasta with Winter Squash and Mushrooms)
Italian winter salads have always struck me as beautiful creations – and yours fits the bill perfectly. While the idea of olive oil on oranges strikes me as a bit odd, I know this would taste amazing!
It really does. A surprising match but one that works perfectly.
So delicious ! Besides, fresh citruses just arrived from the south… so juicy and refreshing office lunch it is !!!!!!
Enjoy!
Frank, this radicchio, orange, and walnut salad looks so fresh and vibrant. I love the contrast of bitter, sweet, and crunchy – such a beautiful balance of flavours.
Thanks, Ben! It really is a perfect salad in so many way.
One of my favorites salads…and it is so healthy for you as well.
Indeed it is. Thanks for stopping by, Karen!
It is peak season for citrus here in the south and radicchio also in season. Love the simplicity of this Italian inspired salad. This salad is proof simple is best.
So true!
I didn’t know there were so many types of radicchio! I’ll have to find a nearby farmer’s market to buy them, since the usual supermarket only has one type! Yeah, sectioning those orange slices is not easy! I remember my culinary student days where we had to slice ‘in-between’ the membranes in order to get a clean slice. Congratulations- you’ve transformed a ‘non-post’ into a real blog post!
It’s too bad you can usually only find one kind of radicchio in stores—and it’s the last interesting one if you ask me! Thanks so much for the kind words. 🙂
Simple and spectacular!
Thanks so much, Mimi!
Lucky you to be able to get radicchio di Treviso! I was in the fields last October, but sadly so hard to find here in LA. Lovely, colorful salad, Frank!
Funny, I would have thought that it’d be easier to find in California. So many Italian vegetables are.
What a beautiful salad! It’s perfect for late winter.
Indeed. Almost makes this frigid weather worthwhile, lol!
this certainly looks attractive and must be good for you too 🙂
sherry
And it’s also delicious! Thanks for stopping by.
Perfection on a plate, as the saying goes – simple, colourful, oh so inviting . . . a plain ‘protein’ added to make this a meal is all that is needed . . .
Thanks so much, Eha.
Every now and then we will get radicchio di Treviso here… and when we see it, we buy it. It always derails any menu plans! I hope I can find some soon to make this salad. Yes, utterly simple, but I just know it will be incredibly special.
It really is, David. And if you can’t find Treviso, then Chioggia also works very nicely here. That’s what I usually use as well.
That sounds delicious. I have paired fennel with blood orange and a little crushed pistachio before and it was also lovely. I will get a radicchio and give this version a try!
Hope you like it, Jim. This is very much in the same vein so I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
A classic and delicious combination for a winter salad!
Definitely! Thanks so much for stopping by, Angie. 🙂
So simple and beautiful! I’m tempted to try it with sherry vinegar…
I’d go ahead and give in to that temptation, MD. 😉