This fresh, summery salad is bursting with Palestinian flavor

Summer days are best with simple dinners — particularly now when most of us aren’t dining out much. We grill and chill all the time in the summer months, and even more this year than in the past.

Keeping the salads and sides fresh keeps eating in from getting mundane.

This week’s recipe is Radicchio, Radish and Clementine Salad from “Zaitoun, Recipes from the Palestinian Kitchen.” I had been eyeing this cookbook at Watermark Books each time I stopped in for something but hadn’t purchased it. Then a friend gifted it to me, and she had no idea about my longing for it. It feels so meant to be when things like that happen.

Palestinian food is quite similar to Lebanese cuisine, so the recipes feel and taste familiar. Different cuisines can transport you to a time or place or even just a daydream, which feels so essential since travel is currently thwarted.

Radicchio is one of those “greens” you either like or dislike. When balanced correctly with a tart vinaigrette and a bit of sweetness, it can be delightful. Any salad with arugula is a winner, in my opinion, so the combo makes the perfect bed for a bright, fresh salad. Clementine segments cut out of the membrane take a bit of time, but it’s well worth the effort for the eating experience.

The sweet orange-y flavor hits your tongue immediately. Chopped dates, radishes and pumpkin seeds top this salad off to make it a hit. Recipes like this are so simple, delicious and satisfying.

Serve it alongside some lamb chops with tahini sauce and maybe a batch of hummus, too, and dinner will transport you to the Middle East, and leave your taste buds hungry for more.

Radicchio, Radish and Clementine Salad

Dressing:

1 clove garlic

1 ¼ tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

½ tablespoon date syrup

Finely grated zest of a clementine

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Salad:

3 clementines

4 cups of arugula

1 ½ cups radicchio, roughly chopped

½ cup radishes, quartered

1/3 cup Medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped

2 tablespoons pumpkin or sunflower seeds

Using the flat side of the blade of a large knife, smash the garlic clove, then place it in an empty

jar and add the rest of the dressing ingredients, seasoning with ¼ teaspoon each salt and

pepper. Screw the lid on the jar and shake vigorously. Leave to infuse while you assemble the

salad.

Remove the segments from the clementines: slice the top and bottom off the first one, cutting

deep enough that you see a wheel of clementine flesh on both sides. Place the fruit on one of

its flat ends, then slice off the remaining peel and pith, following the contour of the fruit. To

remove individual segments, insert your knife as close as you can to the inside membrane of

each segment and cut to the core. Do the same for both sides of the segment; it should release

with no pitch. Repeat with remaining clementines.

Place the segments in a bowl with arugula, radicchio, radishes and dates.

Toast the seeds by stirring them in a dry pan over a medium heat for a minute or so, until

golden. Tip them into the salad.

Remove the garlic from the dressing and pour over the salad, mixing to coat the leaves.

Serve immediately.

Zaitoun, Recipes from the Palestinian Kitchen, Yasmin Khan

This story was originally published July 14, 2020 at 12:20 PM.