Mums Orange Salad

Hey Posse. Ages ago I was asked for the recipe to my Mums Orange Salad because I was talking about Annick Goutal’s Nuit Etoilée on A Bottled Rose. I’ve never known anyone to make it before and have no idea where Mum got the idea for it. We had an orange tree in the backyard though that was unbelievably prolific. Every year we had more than we knew what to do with. Our vegetable garden wasn’t very big and it only had three things in it with any great regularity. Mint, Parsley and Fordhook Giant Silverbeet. Everything else was come and go but those three things were always there. Oh, and Rhubarb but that was never my favourite. Maybe necessity was the mother of invention. My dad was notoriously tight with sharing the money and often Mum would have to improvise from a nearly bare pantry.

Mums Orange Salad Recipe

One of the best things about Mums Orange Salad is how ridiculously easy it is to pull together. I’m showing you the amount to make for serving two moderately hungry people if this is the only salad. It looks excellent served under a grilled/fried chicken or fish fillet but works on a smorgasbord for big family dos if you make a bowl too. Because we often have Korean BarBQ at our place I also serve it alongside the Korean side dishes to add a pop of colour and a completely new taste.

Every Christmas at my BFFs familial home I bring this and potato salad. Jin does his famous roast pork & crackling.

Mums Orange Salad Ingredients:
1 large orange
1 large carrot
4 or 5 sprigs of mint

1. Chop your mint up fairly finely and pop in your bowl.
2. 1/8 your orange and then cut off peel. Cut each segment into about 6 pieces. Keep as much of the orange juice lost during cutting as you can recover. It’s this juice that seems to bind all the flavours together properly.
3. Add orange pieces & juice to bowl and mix them through till blended evenly.
4. Lastly, grate your carrot. We do this last so the carrot doesn’t turn brown but stays beautifully orange.
5. Add to bowl, mix through, serve.
6. Leftovers keep in the fridge for about 4 days.

So, there you have it. Easy, healthy, super cheap and delightfully colourful. Whenever we had family events Mums Orange Salad would be requested. I have kept the tradition alive. Now you can.

Portia xxx