Orange Pistachio Salad with Feta, Blood Style

Nothing makes me happier than a handsome salad.

To me, what truly makes a salad spectacular is color, texture and flavors (that one is obvious). Back in 2014, when I first posted this salad, blood oranges were seasonal and a little hard to find. Now you can find them pretty much all year round at most major grocery stores. However, if for some reason you can’t find blood oranges (sometimes called raspberry oranges) than any orange would work.

Blood oranges are the most fine fruit. Pair that next colorful greens, red onion, pomegranate arils and pistachios and you have a match made in salad heaven.

My go-to way to serve this salad is with Air-Fryer Salmon. Satisfying!

For this Blood Orange Pistachio Salad Gather:

for the dressing:

• kosher salt – Enhances the flavors in the dressing.
• freshly ground black pepper – Adds some subtle bite and flavor.
• ginger (ground) – Gives a subtle pungent, spicy and sweet flavor.
• cayenne pepper – Adds a touch of subtle heat.
• blood orange juice – Freshly squeezed. This will add color, sweetness and enhance the blood orange flavor.
• raspberry vinegar – Adds a touch of sweetness and tart flavor.

for the salad:

• butter lettuce – Adds light, crisp texture and subtle sweetness.
• baby lettuces or spring mix – Usually consisting of baby spinach, radicchio, and other baby greens.
• micro greens – Adds texture and extra nutrients. However, if you can’t find this, you can omit it.
• red onion – Consider soaking onions in ice water to remove a lot of the bite. You still get onion flavor but it mellows out considerably.
• blood oranges (segmented) – Lends savory citrus flavor.
• pistachios – Adds crunch and a mild earthy flavor.
• pomegranate arils – Adds a pop of color, texture and sweet tart flavor.
• feta cheese – Freshly crumbled is go-to as it’s not coated in anti-caking ingredients.
• dill (fresh) – Lends a sweet and grassy flavor with notes of celery and parsley.
• pistachio oil – Has a deep, earthy and distinct pistachio flavor.

Run your knife around the orange to remove as much as the orange rind and least amount of the actual fruit. Keep going until all of the rind and pith (which tends to be bitter) is removed. Over a bowl, and switching over to a paring knife and slice on the inside of the membrane that separates each orange segment.

Repeat those steps with all oranges and place the orange segments into a bowl and collecting all of the juices in the second bowl. Once I was done segmenting, I squeezed what was remaining of the orange to get out any if not all the juice. Set out 3 tablespoons of blood orange juice.

In a small bowl, measure and add 1/4 teaspoon each kosher salt, ground ginger and cayenne with a few turns of freshly ground black pepper.

Add 1 tablespoon raspberry vinegar and the 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed blood orange juice.

Whisk to combine and transfer to a pourable cup or jar.

Next, plate up the salad greens. I’m using a 7 ounce bag of butter lettuce and 5 ounce bag of either a spring mix or baby lettuce blend – both I found at Trader Joe’s. Then I added some micro greens on top.

Top the greens with the thinly sliced red onion, blood orange segments, chopped pistachios, crumbed feta, pomegranate arils and chopped fresh dill.

Drizzle with the blood orange dressing.

And a drizzle of pistachio oil – about 2 tablespoons for the entire platter.

Serve with extra dressing and pistachio oil, salt and pepper on the side!

Hands down one of my go-to salads. I can’t even begin to describe how fresh and bright this salad is.

This salad is memorable paired with salmon, shrimp or scallops. But chicken would also be memorable!

Every bite of this blood orange salad was a little different depending on what I had on my fork. With that said, my regular bit was when I got some blood orange, pistachio and feta. Truthfully, there’s genuinely no way you’ll get a bad bite.