Cherry Orange Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette

This refreshing Cherry Orange Salad with a Citrus Vinaigrette starts with fresh greens and is finished off with ruby red dried cherries and creamy avocado cubes.

Tossed with an orange salad dressing, it’s perfect any time of year you can find sweet juicy oranges.

Cherry Orange Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette

My friend, Judy, pieced this salad together from a couple of recipes and served it to our book club. Both beautiful and tasty, I had to ask for the recipe. Judy used craisins, or dried cranberries, in her version which is a terrific

Since fresh oranges are plentiful all year long, this orange salad recipe knows no season. It’s easy enough for a weeknight, yet special enough to serve to company. And if your palate is more adventurous, you may love this Shaved Fennel, Orange and Beet Salad, too.

How to Supreme an Orange

Making a tossed green salad is pretty basic stuff, but if you haven’t supremed an orange, you’ll want to hear the details.

Supreming an orange is a technique used to remove orange segments from a whole orange without any peel or membrane. First you stand the orange upright with the stem at the top. With a sharp knife, cut the top and bottom off the orange. Next, with the orange upright, slice from top to bottom removing both the peel and the membrane, following the curve of the orange. Continue all around the orange until all the peel is removed.

Once that is done, the individual orange segments are visible. Use a paring knife to slice out each segment, remaining close to the membranes to remove as much of the orange segment as possible. Continue all the way around the orange until all segments are removed from the fruit.

Tips for Making an Orange Salad

• Once you have your oranges supremed, the hardest part of the recipe is over. Make sure to save any exuded juices for the salad dressing.
• If you don’t want to go through the segmenting process, feel free to use a small can of drained mandarin oranges instead.
• PRO-Tip: Tossing the avocado cubes with salad dressing helps minimize browning or oxidation due to the acidity of the lemon and orange juices and the vinegar.
• Alternatively, peel and cube the avocado right before serving. The less time the avocado is exposed to the air, the less chance of browning.
• Make sure to use fresh orange and lemon juice for this salad dressing. Bottled lemon juice cannot compare to freshly squeezed.
• When making salad dressing, whisk in the oil last.  Once all the other ingredients have been whisked well, slowly add the oil in a thin stream while whisking continuously. This process will emulsify, or thicken and make a homogeneous dressing that shouldn’t easily separate.
• PRO-Tip: Don’t skip the mustard as it assists with the emulsification as well as adding some depth of flavor to the salad dressing.
• If your dried cherries seem a little dehydrated, soak them in a bit of orange juice and allow them to plump up. This time of year, fresh cherries are sweet and juicy and would be a magnificent addition to this simple green salad.

Ingredients

Salad:

•  10 cups salad greens, I used a mixture of baby spinach and spring mix
•  1/3 cup dried tart cherries
•  2 oranges, supremed
•  1 large avocado, cubed, then lightly tossed in salad dressing

Orange Vinaigrette:

•  1/4 cup fresh orange juice
•  2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
•  2 tablespoons rice vinegar
•  2 teaspoons sugar
•  1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
•  1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
•  1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
•  1/4 cup vegetable oil

Instructions

1. Add the salad greens to a serving bowl. Arrange oranges and cherries over the surface. Place the avocados in a small bowl.
2. Whisk together all the dressing ingredients except the oil. Then slowly drizzle in the oil while whisking continuously. Taste for seasonings and add more salt and/or pepper if needed.
3. Drizzle some of the dressing over the avocados and toss gently to coat. Arrange the avocados over the salad.
4. To serve, toss the salad with the dressing.

Source : https://www.thatskinnychickcanbake.com