Italians make wonderful orange salads and Jamaica grows such vibrant citrus, that I go crazy with them each time the season rolls around which runs from November to April. I wish we had blood oranges with their wonderful hue and enigmatic taste, but we have a very special citrus fruit of our own called the ortanique which is unique to the island. It is the darling of the citrus world, a hybrid cross between the tangerine and orange with a unique sweetness. Added with beautiful earthy beets, I got my “blood orange effect” which I combined with a zesty ortanique dressing, refreshing dill and crunchy almonds for a gorgeous seasonal winter salad.
Ingredients
- 2 large beets
- 2 large ortaniques, peeled, sliced, white pith and seeds removed
- 2 tbsps slivered almonds, to garnish
- Roughly torn dill sprigs, to garnish
- Dressing
- 3 tbsps freshly squeezed ortanique juice
- 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
- Salt to taste
- 50ml/ ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Method
- Preheat oven to 400F, peel beets and wrap them individually in foil. Add to the oven and roast for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and cool down before unwrapping them. Thinly slice when they are room temperature.
- Prepare the dressing by whisking ortanique juice, wholegrain mustard and olive oil together, season with a little salt to taste.
On a platter, arrange the ortanique and beet slices alternatively, drizzle the dressing over the fruit and vegetables then scatter the almonds and dill sprigs to garnish and serve immediately.
Jacqui ‘JuicyChef’ Sinclair, founder of Nyam & Trod, is a British Jamaican award-winning chef, writer, and food culturist. She is a co-founder of Kingston Kitchen, an annual food event supporting food artisans. Jacqui has been an advocate of the Meatless Monday Global movement in Jamaica since 2011. Jacqui’s work has been featured in such publications as the Huffington Post, the Jamaica Observer, Saveur, The Jewish Post and numerous blogs. She has appeared on the Travel Channel’s ‘Bizarre Foods’ with Andrew Zimmern and Food & Wine’s Jamaica episode with Kwame Onwuachi.