With all the pie and pudding around here lately, I’ve been thinking about something light and fresh to balance out all that butter and sugar. This is more difficult than it should be during winter, when all I really want is warm, spicy and comforting food of the stick-to-your-ribs variety (not to mention hearty red wine with everything). There’s nothing sadder on a cold winter’s day than dutifully masticating on raw carrots or flavourless lettuce because you need to get your 5+ a day. The only way to create winter salads that I’ll willingly (and joyfully) eat is to give them my serious attention, so here is my advice to you: you can’t just throw a few cherry tomatoes or slices of cucumber on a plate and expect to be happy! It takes effort. Load in as much colour as you possibly can, include a range of flavours, think carefully about how to balance acid with salt, sweetness and bitterness, and never, ever forget about the textures. With variety, contrast and balance, your salad will effortlessly move from mundane to memorable.
Lately I’m getting my motivation at the farmers market where stalls are piled high with flavoursome winter produce. Most enticing is the beetroot, with deep red-purple skin and perky leaves still attached (which are excellent cooked like spinach). If I’m lucky, there will be golden beetroot too and maybe even the gorgeous Chioggia with its pink and white candy-stripped flesh. Citrus is at its best right now and I can’t resist these beautiful orbs in glowing colours of orange, yellow and green. And radishes grown in the cool of winter are delightful: juicy, mild and extra-crunchy.
I created this salad recently drawing solely on the contents of my market bags. The base is comprised of beetroot which has been roasted under a cover, trapping the juices deep within the flesh. The sweetness and earthiness of the beetroot contrasts beautifully with the bright notes of segmented grapefruit and orange, and the lightly roasted radishes provide a touch of pepper and a satisfying crunch. In the photos I used lemony sorrel and a handful of rocket to form the background greenery, but the second time I mixed in bitter radicchio which was even better. Persimmon and pomegranate weren’t really needed, but added extra sweetness and colour. Red wine vinaigrette pulled the whole together.
I ate this salad with half an avocado and felt vegan and virtuous for a full and glorious hour…until the familiar craving for cheese and cake kicked back in. Sigh. The struggle is real, but so much easier (really) if you can just figure out how to make great winter salad.
For more inspiration, check out this other great salad from last winter featuring red cabbage and pickled fennel.
Winter Market Salad with Citrus, Beetroot & Bitter Greens
6 medium beetroot, mixed variety if possible
Bunch of radishes
1 red grapefruit
1 orange
2 fuyu persimmon
100g bitter leaves such as radicchio or rocket
Bunch sorrel leaves (optional)
1 pomegranate (optional)
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 220ºC / 425ºF. Wash the beetroot and slice off the stems but do not peel them. Place the beetroot into an oven-proof dish, cover tightly with foil and bake until tender, about 45-50 minutes. When cool enough to handle, rub the beetroot with paper towels to remove the skins and slice into chunky wedges.
The radishes can be left raw or prepared similarly to the beetroot: washed and trimmed and encased in foil, although I roast them for only 15-20 minutes to ensure that they retain most of their crunch.
While the vegetables are cooking, remove the peel and white pith from the grapefruit and orange and, working over a bowl to catch the juices, slice between the membranes to segment the flesh. Add the vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper to the bowl of citrus juices and whisk together to form the dressing. Peel and slice the persimmon.
Create a nest of radicchio, rocket and/or sorrel (or other winter leaves) on a single large plate or individual plates. Arrange wedges of beetroot, citrus flesh, persimmon and sliced radishes on each plate and drizzle over the dressing. Complete the salad with a scattering of pomegranate arils.
Chez Moi 
Well that looks pretty glorious to me. I guess some grilled haloumi or chicken may have crushed the urge for cheese and a side of cake!
You are quite right Lucy! This salad was even better when I included soft goats cheese. I was so much better as well – clearly I’m just not cut out for veganism.
The struggle is real. 😁 Hard to give up cheese on this end too. That’s a beautiful salad and I love the unique mix of ingredients.
Thanks Eartha, I’ve given up trying, I need cheese in my life – asceticism is not for me…
This salad looks delicious!
Thanks Brittany, it was pretty good!
Love all of the colorful beets. The salad looks wonderful. And I have been enjoying scrolling through your recent blog posts. I’ve had a bit of a break from blogging and have missed it dearly and am so happy to be back writing and reading what others share.
I have missed your posts and am very glad that you’re back!
this salad is beautiful, but you’re right, my satisfaction only lasts for fleeting hour or so and i’m wanting more. the beets you have to choose from are so envy-inducing. the ones we have currently are the generic variety, which are still quite delicious, but i’d love a golden beet to add to the mix.
Golden beets are great, a little sweeter than the red and the colour is just so beautiful. I hadn’t tried the Chioggia before, so that was a novelty. Once roasted and sliced I thought that it looked a bit like salami which was a bit weird in a vegan salad!
It’s so colourful and pretty!! I’d usually take a big bowl of pasta over a salad, but this sounds amazing – especially because you’ve got persimmons in there!! LOVE them!!
Thanks Jess! I love adding persimmon to salad in autumn/winter for their colour as well as their flavour. I made a persimmon and almond cake over the weekend too – got to make the most of them while they’re here!
The photos are stunning, you have every right to feel virtuous after eating it.
I’ll take it then! Thanks Lisa 😊
Yes for cheese!
Indeed! The world would be a cold and dark place without it 😊
You got me at ‘beetroot’, then you said persimmon. So, next week at your place, after the markets?
I can do the beetroot but there are no more persimmons to be found at the market! Something else would do though, pear maybe? And I’ve decided that this salad needs cheese too – goats cheese probably.
Oh dear, you just lost the vegans. But I’m still on board. Pears would work, albeit lacking the colour. I have memories (too long ago to be comfortable) of sitting under my grandfather’s persimmon tree and totally pigging out. Food (taste, smell, colour) triggers so much nostalgia.
Not sure that I ever really had them…but that’s ok! I hated persimmons as a child but really like them now although always as part of something else, never alone – a strategy that I use with tomatoes and peas, which I similarly detested during my childhood!
Your photographs really celebrate the beauty of these vegetables Chez! And I love your crack about feeling vegan and virtuous for an hour! A great post, even if I won’t be following the recipe. Cheers, Philippa
Haha thanks Philippa! I did try to be vegan once (as a student) but it didn’t go very well. I ended up living on toast and peanut butter and guacamole with corn chips. I wasn’t a very good cook back then. I’d do much better now, but alas, I lack the will!
The photos are so colorful and amazing, looks so crispy, fresh and tasty 😁
Thank you Chef Kreso, that’s exactly how it tasted 😊
I believe!