Recipe: Mediterranean navel orange salad with red onion, olives and feta

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Recipe: Mediterranean navel orange salad with red onion, olives and feta

Mediterranean navel orange salad with red onions, olives and feta

• 10 navel oranges
• 1 red onion
• 1 cup pitted Kalamata olives (or any other black olive)
• 1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 Tbsp minced preserved lemon (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 Tbsp Italian parsley, chopped

Zest two of the oranges with a Microplane (that’s my favorite gadget, but if you have a different one, be my guest). Set aside the zest.

Cutting out the flesh of the oranges is the most complicated part of this recipe, and it’s not all that hard. Put an orange on a cutting board and slice off both ends. Then, stand the orange on one end and cut down, slicing the peel and pith away from the orange and exposing the flesh. Do this all the way around; some of the flesh will come away with the peel, but that can’t be helped. Now slice the orange flesh into 1-inch rounds, and the rounds into chunks. Put the orange chunks in a big bowl.

Shave the red onion with a mandoline, or slice it in half-moons as thinly as you can. Cut the olives in half. Add those and everything else, including the orange zest, to the bowl, and toss gently. Be generous with the salt and pepper; even though the olives and feta are salty, you’ll still need more salt to balance the sweetness of the oranges.

Let the salad sit at room temperature for an hour, tossing gently every quarter-hour or so, to let the flavors meld. Serve sprinkled with more crumbled feta, if you like.