Grilled Tangerine & Blood Orange Cabbage Salad w/Roasted Sunflower Seeds

Day 4 of Salad Week Series.

Could spring really be here?! We suffered temperatures in the negatives last week in around the -7F  with an added dose of  8″ of beautiful snow. And now today we’re enjoying 62F here in DC. It’s crazy. But I’ll take it. Spring is two weeks away but if she wants to make an early cameo, I say bring it on. I’m desperate for renewal anyway. Not just in scenery or ambiance, but in food as well. I’ve more soups and chili stews than I can count. I’m ready for lighter and brighter fare.

I’m continuing with the Salad Week series today with a vibrant salad that whispers, “hello Primavera!” We want her to stay, don’t we? This should do it.

Like the other salads I’ve been sharing, this one is super simple, with even less fuss and no true science. It’s probably the healthiest of them all, too, which renders it the default go-to. However, there is a lack of green on this plate for a reason. I wanted this particular salad to be an inspiration to look at salads differently. Having a healthy lifestyle doesn’t mean all greens and all vegetables. Or all eggy and creamy. It simply means eating what you know your body needs to function at its optimum.

Sometimes, fruits can carry all the weight of the task.

We do need to keep in mind that not all fruits are created equal, tho. I can’t see a salad like this made up of banana slices. I opted for tangerines since they’re so popular in green salads. I also had some highly pigmented blood oranges I needed to use before their yumminess expired. They’re not too easy to come by in these parts so it’d be crime to let them go to waste.

Those were my two main stars. The rest was just a matter of building blocks to make it attractive and delicious without being predictable.

I grilled some of the tangerine slices, though you can’t really tell here and left the blood orange slices as they are. Divine.

Pomegranates give this a touch of added sourness without any overpowering sweetness. Toasted sunflowers seeds add texture and good fat. Rosemary gives it a beautiful aroma. And the lemon-infused cabbage was the source of crunch and heart.

Everything married so lovely I couldn’t resist going one step further and zesting some of the blood orange to top it all off.

This one required absolutely no dressing. The natural juice from the citrus fruits dressed it enough. But, if you have to add something, I’d go for something along the lines of a super light flavored white balsamic vinaigrette!

That’s all to it. Really.

I love simple salads that can give us a break from the heavy green ones but still give us the nutritional value we need. At least a lot of it. And in this case, it’s so pretty and light that you won’t feel any kind of guilt if you indulge yourselves by adding a few slices of avocado and eating a portion big enough for 4!

I’m not doing a recipe because this is mostly about you taking the ingredients I listed and making it as sweet, tangy, big or dainty as you want it. For the cabbage, though, do season it with some salt and add it to a brine of orange and lemon juice with a bit of white rice vinegar. You’ll love it!

Here are a few fun salads for you to  try!

ROASTED CAULIFLOWER & QUINOA WITH WALNUT POMEGRANATE DRESSING

RAW KALE AND BERRY SALAD WITH TRUFFLE HONEY DRESSING

SOUTHWESTERN GRILLED CHICKEN W/LEMON HUMMUS , CHICKPEAS W/CILANTRO AVOCADO AIOLI

BLEU CHEESE, PEAR AND CANDIED PECAN

FRESH CABBAGE

RED BEAN APPLE & MANCHEGO W/ FENNEL

HONEY FRENCH ROASTED BEET PEAR AND BLEU CHEESE 

BEET PUREE AND APPLE AND GINGER

Eat well, love unapologetically, pray with true intention, and take care of yourself.

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