The lamb’s lettuce and orange salad is such a fresh delight, with its sweet and sour taste, it becomes perfect for any occasion.
Lamb’s lettuce or corn salad: This small lettuce, which looks like a little radicchio, has a sweet and nutty flavor. I find it excellent in salads, it’s rich in vitamin C, and also vitamin A and potassium. Can you believe it, here in Veneto we call it gallinella.
Two, actually three ingredients are undoubtedly healthy on your table. Today we’re talking about lamb’s lettuce, oranges, and walnuts, the stars of this delicious and delicate winter salad.
Orange: In this case, I used the vanilla orange. Have you ever tasted it? It’s a very sweet variety, not acidic at all, with a beautiful color ranging from orange to red. It’s called vanilla orange because its sweetness contains a vanilla note. It’s a Sicilian orange, usually available even organic. Like its sisters, it’s rich in vitamin C, antioxidants, and naturally, let’s eat the white filaments called albedo, rich in fiber and immune system booster.
Walnuts: Now let’s get to the third ingredient, walnuts! For this recipe, I used locally-grown Lara walnuts. Please, buy Italian walnuts! I know they’re hard to find, maybe because of the strong French competition. Well, French walnuts are certainly better if Italian ones aren’t available than Californian ones or those coming from the other side of the world.
As I was saying, Lara walnuts are a very tasty variety of walnuts, not bleached, with a round shell. Well, if I start talking about walnuts, I could go on forever. I’ll just add that 30 grams of walnuts a day (5 or 6 walnuts) provide about 180 kcal, but they also have 4 grams of protein and 2 grams of fiber in addition to 13 grams of good fats!!
Walnuts are rich in vitamin E and Vitamin B6 but also in phosphorus, manganese, copper, magnesium, folates, thiamine.
- Cost: Very economical
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 4 people
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter, Autumn, Winter, and Spring
Ingredients for Lamb’s Lettuce and Orange Salad
- 3.5 oz lamb's lettuce (corn salad)
- 3 oranges (organic vanilla)
- 8 walnuts
- 1 tsp herbs
- 2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pinch sea salt
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1 tbsp orange (zest)
- 1 pinch pepper
Tools
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Oval Plate
- 1 Knife
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 Salad Spinner
How to Prepare Delicious Lamb’s Lettuce and Orange Salad
Thoroughly wash the organic oranges, cut half an orange, grate a tablespoon of zest which you will add at the end, and set it aside to squeeze over the salad. With a sharp knife, cut the other oranges into 1 cm slices. Set aside.
Wash and drain the lamb’s lettuce, and trim any small roots. Crack the walnuts, remove the kernels, and chop them roughly. Pour into a bowl.
In the bowl where you’ve placed the lamb’s lettuce and walnuts, season with herbs, chia seeds, salt, pepper, oil, juice from half an orange, and the grated zest, mix well. Arrange the orange slices all around the serving plate, place the seasoned salad in the center.
How to Store the Salad
If the salad is dressed, it only keeps for a few hours as the orange juice wilts the ingredients. If it’s not dressed, you can place it in an airtight container and store it in the fridge until the next day.
Variations of Lamb’s Lettuce and Orange Salad
This simple salad can be varied endlessly according to the season. Try it with arugula, with curly endive, or even with monk’s beard. Add more nuts or raisins, peel the citrus fruits, for example, grapefruit or bergamot. Add your favorite fruit, a grate of fresh ginger, for example.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
What other fruit can I use instead of orange?
This salad is variable depending on the seasons, try it with pomegranate for example, or even with strawberries or pears.
Can I prepare the lamb’s lettuce and orange salad in advance?
Sure, you can prepare the salad the day before, but don’t dress it, cover the plate well with plastic wrap, and leave it in the fridge. It’s better to crumble the walnut kernels at the last minute; otherwise, they may lose their crunchiness.
