I have for you here a little sunshine in a salad. Inspired by the flavours of Morocco. Chilli spiced oranges, sticky dates, salty tangy olives and refreshing flat leaved parsley with a splash of extra virgin olive oil.
Yes, it is a salad. But, it’s not supposed to be a “diet” salad. More of a ” I have overdone it and need a change of food” creation that also happens to taste satisfyingly good and has me wishing for a trip to Morocco with all it’s heat, spice and colour.
It is a dish that isn’t really a recipe but more of an assembly of ingredients that work so well together. When I concoct recipes like this, I always think of Nigel Slater who is the master of dishes that seem to assemble themselves, with considered choice of ingredients. I wonder if he would approve……
This salad fits perfectly with One Ingredient with Nazima at Franglais Kitchen (co-hosted by me) and this month the challenge is “Healthy recipes“.
I am entering my salad into No Croutons Required hosted by Lisa at Lisa’s Kitchen and Jac at Tinned Tomatoes. The chosen theme this month is “Veggie soup or salad“.
This also fits on perfectly at Cooking with herbs. A monthly challenge run by Karen at Lavender & Lovage. The them this month is “Citrus”.
My salad is also going over to Four Seasons Food. A challenge co- hosted by Louisa at Eat Your Veg and Anneli at Delicieux. The theme this month is “Virtuous Food”.
Spiced orange, date, green olive & parsley salad
Ingredients
- 2 Large oranges peeled and sliced into rounds
- 1/2 tsp Chilli flakes
- 10 Medjool dates sliced into quarters lengthways
- 8 Green olives de-stoned/pitted,
- 1/2 Bunch of flat parsley leaves only (save stalks for chopping into soups/sauces),
- Extra virgin olive oil enough to dress the salad
Instructions
- This is an assembly of the ingredients listed above, on a large plate. It makes a perfect starter but would also be a lovely accompaniment to some spice marinated fish or meat.
Recipe Notes
I would recommend slicing the olives thinly in this salad. I did not do this for the photo but did slice up the olives as I was eating them with the rest of the salad. They provide the seasoning for this dish so no salt is required.
How delicious Laura. We were talking at Ballymaloe today about how good winter salads can be. This one sounds wonderful, and I have bookmarked it!
Oh I agree winter salads can be just as good as summer ones. Am sure you will be enjoying a number of amazing salads during your time at Ballymaloe 🙂
I feel healthier just reading it, I may well try making one for supper tomorrow.
Yes, definitely healthy Jude, antidote to the rich French food!
Looks lovely, just the sort of food I’m craving at the moment. I’m way too greedy to properly diet but similarly feeling the need for lots of taste without the stodge – for a week or so anyway! Regularly turn to Nigel Slater for inspiration re simply assembling good ingredients too.
Yes it’s a good phase at the moment for lighter dishes. Have enjoyed reading your recent posts and what you have been enjoying too 🙂
Yum! What a lovely combination of flavours, sounds really fresh. Perfect for this time of year! If I had the ingredients I’d make myself some right now! Happy new year!
Thanks Jayne, good to hear from you and hope you had a lovely New Year x
Sounds good – a lovely combination of colours as well as flavours.
Thanks Sarah 🙂
Oh that looks lush! Great entry, well apart from the olives. Can’t stand olives!
Oh sorry Jac I love ’em!
What a lovely idea and such glorious colours for this depressing start to 2014 in England. It’s taking me back to last summer in Morocco where these kinds of salads with local bread was what we ate every day. Easy to be healthy over there with steamed tagines and wonderful oranges. Will add oranges to my shopping list for the market this morning
Yes, Urvashi I would love the food in Morocco and imagine the fruits are very good, and the dates!
Love te spicy oranges in this salad, so fresh xx
Thanks Deena x
That salad not only looks colourful and delicious but such zingy fresh flavours too – think we could all do with a bit of Moroccan sunshine and spice right now.
That is very true Choclette, even better would be to be there right now!
Oh a gorgeous vibrant Winter salad, how lovely! Just what we all need to be eating after the indulgence of December and Christmas. It is very Nigel Slater, great selection of ingredients perfectly assembled. Thanks so much for linking up to Four Seasons Food, and indeed this is extremely Virtuous!
I’ve made and orange and olive salad but never thought to add dates. They must add such a nice taste and texture…I can’t wait to try your pretty salad.
Gorgeous combination of ingredients here. Thanks for sharing with NCR.
Quite simply DELICIOUS! Thanks so much for entering this into Cooking with Herbs, Karen
Funny, I have never thought of using dates in salad either, but this one looks like a winner. I have a great little local shop near me that sell the widest range of dates that I have ever seen, so I can give this a go to see which type is the best too. Thanks for this recipe, it seems like a great way to brighten up a winter’s evening.