Dinner Tonight: Orange and Red Onion Salad Recipe

By
Nick Kindelsperger
Nick Kindelsperger is a contributing writer at Serious Eats.
Nick Kindelsperger is a food critic at the Chicago Tribune.  His food writing appears in The Washington Post, Newsweek, Epicurious, Baltimore Sun, Serious Eats, Grub Street, New York Magazine, and Tasting Table, among others.
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Updated August 09, 2018

With the temperatures spilling over the 90 degree threshold, and the fiancee threatening violence if I turn on the oven in our apartment, I was on a search for fresh food that didn’t require any heat at all to prepare. I found this recipe in Lidia’s Italy, and it sounded perfect. The only ingredient I couldn’t find were blood oranges, but Lidia said smaller oranges would work fine and for the most part, they did. The flavors were all there. The sweetness of the orange was cut by the bite of the thin red onion, and the olive oil gave the dish a savory edge.

Still I was a little confused by the center of each round, which contained various amounts of inedible white parts. Perhaps I was supposed to remove those too. They weren’t much of a problem in the middle of the orange, but towards the top, those white parts became inedible. Either way, as long as you don’t mind pulling things out of your teeth, you couldn't ask for a nicer summertime salad.

Recipe Details

Dinner Tonight: Orange and Red Onion Salad Recipe

Prep 15 mins
Total 15 mins

Ingredients

  • 4 oranges (preferably blood orange, but regular ones are fine)
  • 1/4 medium red onion, thinly sliced
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • Black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

  1. Remove the peel of the oranges, along with as much of the pith as possible. Thinly slice the oranges into rounds, about 1/3 of inch thick. Place them on a plate.

  2. Place the thinly sliced red onion on top.

  3. Sprinkle the salt on top, dress with olive oil, and crack some pepper to taste.

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