I always find a brightly-colored salad to be uplifting in wintertime. Lettuce may not be not a winter crop, but I like to overlook that fact and focus instead on salad as an opportunity to let winter citrus shine. And at this time of year fresh herbs are starting to peek up in the garden, which is a perfect excuse to supplement your salad greens with generous handfuls of parsley. The play of flavors and textures here—sweet, salty, bitter, crisp—will brighten any winter day.
Zest your oranges first if they’re organic, of course, for the salad dressing and for making this or this or this. A mix of colors and flavors of oranges is nice too–those pinky ones above are Cara Caras, and blood oranges are at least as dramatic. If you are the sort of person who has it in you to supreme oranges, do so by all means. If you are not, steal my shortcut and simply shave off the peels with a sharp knife, then slice the fruit crosswise.
Winter Salad with Oranges and Oil-Cured Olives: Wash, dry, and tear a head of crisp green lettuce. Toss with a couple good handfuls of flat parsley leaves. Use a sharp knife to remove the peel and outer membrane from a few oranges (preferably in a variety of colors), then slice each thinly crosswise. Layer orange slices onto salad, then top with a handful of pitted and torn oil-cured olives and more parsley leaves. Just before serving, dress the salad with a citrus vinaigrette made with a grating of orange zest, 2 Tbsp. orange juice, 1 Tbsp. white wine or rice vinegar, a big pinch or two of salt, and 3 Tbsp. olive oil.
Emmy Cooks 
My mouth watered when I saw the photo in my reader. Looks divine!
I love the sound of olives and citrus together! I just had my first Cara Cara last week – delish :)
Fabulous salad and so pretty! Citrus is totally saving me and quenching my craving for fresh fruit. I love the savory addition of some olives, too.
So colourful!
Love this combination!
Fresh herbs peeking up in the garden? I’m so jealous. Mine are currently buried under 10 inches of fresh snow.
This salad is so lovely. I just stocked up on citrus (before the big snow), so I’m going to give this a go tonight. Thanks Emmy!
Nice to see you posting again
A wonderful salad – simply delicious.
Love citrus in salads. And thank you for the reminder to zest! Sometimes I only remember when it’s too late. I’m jealous of your herbs, too. We had to tear out our herb garden when we rebuilt our beds and my plans to make an herb spiral have never come to fruition. Someday.
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Olives and citrus is such a wonderful combination. I love it! I wonder if there are still any blood oranges around . . .
Looks like a great recipe! :-) Thanks for the like – I’m just starting out but I hope you keep reading!
Interesting combo. Sounds really delicious!
So glad to have found your lovely blog. I look forward to reading more! The salad looks delicious.
Oil-cured olives are just the best, and I love that you’ve paired them with such a beautiful array of citrus. I’ll have to come back to this when its citrus season again!
That looks absolutely amazing!
Thanks! It’s good to be reminded of a great winter salad just as I’m sad to say goodbye to the summer ones… :)