This beautiful “Autumn Leaves Salad” recipe is from Love the Foods That Love You Back: Clean, Healthy, Vegan Recipes for Everyone, a new cookbook written by food writer and advocate Cathy Katin-Grazzini. Cathy Katin-Grazzini is the founder of Cathy’s Kitchen Prescription LLC and she is the food editor for VEGWORLD Magazine. Cathy is certified in Plant-Based Nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies at Cornel and she is a trained PCRM Food for Life instructor.
Thank you for sharing this lovely recipe with us today, Cathy!
ABOUT THE RECIPE, by Cathy Katin-Grazzini
SERVES 4
PREP: 15 minutes COOK: 30 minutes
CATHY SAYS: “Here’s a cheerful salad that celebrates autumn, easy enough for any dinner, and beautiful enough for the holiday table. Steamed golden beets rest on a bed of peppery arugula and baby greens. Gorgeous blood oranges are braised and black plums are roasted, to tenderize them and intensify their flavors. Crisp, pungent French radishes balance the fruits’ sweetness, and a light sprinkle of pine nuts adds a buttery crunch. Together, these different flavors and textures play off one another. Visually, the splash of bright colors, evoking autumn leaves, is inviting.”
INGREDIENTS:
1 large or 2 medium golden beets
3 to 4 black or red plums
3 to 4 blood oranges, halved and pitted
Splash dry white wine or dry vermouth
4 ounces baby spinach or tatsoi
4 ounces baby arugula
3 to 4 French radishes or any other small salad radishes, sliced
¼ cup pine nuts or crumbled walnuts
Nonpareil capers, a few scallions, or tender herb leaves (or their flowers), for garnish
Peel the beets. Use a mandoline or sharp knife to slice them very thinly, about 1⁄₈ to 3⁄₁₆ inch thick. Steam until just tender, but take care not to overcook them. (If desired, use an oak leaf–shaped cookie cutter, if you have one, to cut each slice into a decorative leaf.)
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Roast the plums cut side up for 15 to 20 minutes on a parchment paper–lined baking sheet, just until they begin to soften and their nectar collects on top. Brush their juices over each half and bake for another 5 minutes. Do not overbake, or the plums will be too soft to slice. Let cool, then slice ¼-inch thick.
Roll the oranges, pressing firmly on a hard surface to help release their juices. Peel them, removing as much of the white pith as possible, and separate into sections. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium, add the orange sections, and lightly brown both sides. Add a splash of wine or vermouth, cover, and cook for 5 minutes to rehydrate and soften, in effect poaching the oranges.
To plate, on a large serving platter or individual plates, lay down a bed of baby spinach and arugula. Next, arrange the beets as alternating leaves on a branch. Decoratively place the plum slices, orange sections, and radish slices. Lightly scatter the pine nuts or walnuts across the surface.
To garnish, add a sprinkling of capers for salinity and acidity. Or thinly slice a few scallion greens, toss them in ice water to create scallion curls, and scatter a few on top. If you grow herbs, you could toss on a few young tender leaves and/or edible autumn flowers from mint, chive, or thyme.
RECIPE REPRINTED BY PERMISSION from © Love the Foods that Love You Back by Cathy Katin-Grazzini, Rizzoli New York, 2022. Photography © Giordano Katin-Grazzini.
Ingredients
Directions
ABOUT THE RECIPE, by Cathy Katin-Grazzini
SERVES 4
PREP: 15 minutes COOK: 30 minutes
CATHY SAYS: “Here’s a cheerful salad that celebrates autumn, easy enough for any dinner, and beautiful enough for the holiday table. Steamed golden beets rest on a bed of peppery arugula and baby greens. Gorgeous blood oranges are braised and black plums are roasted, to tenderize them and intensify their flavors. Crisp, pungent French radishes balance the fruits’ sweetness, and a light sprinkle of pine nuts adds a buttery crunch. Together, these different flavors and textures play off one another. Visually, the splash of bright colors, evoking autumn leaves, is inviting.”
INGREDIENTS:
1 large or 2 medium golden beets
3 to 4 black or red plums
3 to 4 blood oranges, halved and pitted
Splash dry white wine or dry vermouth
4 ounces baby spinach or tatsoi
4 ounces baby arugula
3 to 4 French radishes or any other small salad radishes, sliced
¼ cup pine nuts or crumbled walnuts
Nonpareil capers, a few scallions, or tender herb leaves (or their flowers), for garnish
Peel the beets. Use a mandoline or sharp knife to slice them very thinly, about 1⁄₈ to 3⁄₁₆ inch thick. Steam until just tender, but take care not to overcook them. (If desired, use an oak leaf–shaped cookie cutter, if you have one, to cut each slice into a decorative leaf.)
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Roast the plums cut side up for 15 to 20 minutes on a parchment paper–lined baking sheet, just until they begin to soften and their nectar collects on top. Brush their juices over each half and bake for another 5 minutes. Do not overbake, or the plums will be too soft to slice. Let cool, then slice ¼-inch thick.
Roll the oranges, pressing firmly on a hard surface to help release their juices. Peel them, removing as much of the white pith as possible, and separate into sections. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium, add the orange sections, and lightly brown both sides. Add a splash of wine or vermouth, cover, and cook for 5 minutes to rehydrate and soften, in effect poaching the oranges.
To plate, on a large serving platter or individual plates, lay down a bed of baby spinach and arugula. Next, arrange the beets as alternating leaves on a branch. Decoratively place the plum slices, orange sections, and radish slices. Lightly scatter the pine nuts or walnuts across the surface.
To garnish, add a sprinkling of capers for salinity and acidity. Or thinly slice a few scallion greens, toss them in ice water to create scallion curls, and scatter a few on top. If you grow herbs, you could toss on a few young tender leaves and/or edible autumn flowers from mint, chive, or thyme.
RECIPE REPRINTED BY PERMISSION from © Love the Foods that Love You Back by Cathy Katin-Grazzini, Rizzoli New York, 2022. Photography © Giordano Katin-Grazzini.
