citrus wallop fruit salad

citrus & peels

This was my kitchen counter earlier and it was a sight for sore eyes, indeed.Β Is there anything more beautiful and colourful than this? Hues of pink, purple, yellow, orange – how bright and cheery for a January grey morning! I had been collecting an assortment of citrus on my little jaunts to the market and I realized that I had a pretty sweet collection: tangelos, clementines, blood oranges and a pink grapefruit. All of these citrus fruits are of the tart variety because the sour-er the better-er is how things are in my books. But if you have honey mandarines or tangerines, by all means, throw those in as well! And what better way to celebrate all of this citrus, but with a bright and colourful fruit salad.

peeled

First things first: peeling. If you’ve never removed the skin of an orange with a knife, here’s one big helpful tip: use a sharp knife! It really helps and not just with cutting the peel off a fruit. One of my new year’s resolutions is to sharpen my knives more and since I’ve got a handy little sharpener, I can do it myself when the need arises – which should be about once every couple of weeks or so. Sharp knives makes cooking so much easier. And slicing the peel off the fruit is really quite simple. Cut off the dimple end and then just slice downwards, curving with the fruit, until all the pith (the bitter white stuff) and peel is gone.

fruit salad

As for this fruit salad, it’s delicious. I wanted to bump up the citrus-ness of it and give this a wallop of flavour, so I used lime juice and marmalade in the dressing. To add texture, I also added in some unsweetened coconut (though if you’ve got sweetened, use that instead) and pecans, along with a little lime zest for colour. But the biggest surprise came from the greek yogurt, so please don’t skip this step. The yogurt makes this salad special and adds a creaminess that will make your mouth really, really happy.

citrus

66 comments to “citrus wallop fruit salad”

  1. 1
    molly   January 10, 2011 at 4:25 pm

    Man, that opening shot is a DOOZY! I think I need to get my grapefruit’s a-peeling…

  2. 2
    karen   January 10, 2011 at 4:30 pm

    mmmmmmmmmm this looks delicious — a perfect way to wake up my tastebuds in the morning. i’ve been making your winter fruit salad with grapefruit and apples lately — this one will be a nice change. thanks!

  3. 3
    Jackie   January 10, 2011 at 4:59 pm

    There are days when I hate being citrus-intolerant. πŸ™ But my husband will love this! Great salad for cold/flu (or any) season, and a good excuse to finally try out greek yogurt.
    Beautiful pictures by the way. πŸ™‚

  4. 4
    Maria   January 10, 2011 at 6:23 pm

    I am loving all things citrus right now. Love this salad!

  5. 5
    Adorn Inc   January 10, 2011 at 6:48 pm

    OMG I’ve been craving citrus something fierce! I may just have to make this!

  6. 6
    Bijoux   January 10, 2011 at 7:45 pm

    Ha! My m-i-l calls good food “special.” What a beautiful selection of citrus fruits. I’m by no way a sour flavour seeker like yourself but I can still enjoy an occasional puckery flavour and I love that this salad is combined with other add-ins like coconut, marmalade and pecans. Oh, and that dollop of whip cre….I mean Greek yoghurt makes it even more healthy πŸ™‚

  7. 7
    Krissy @ Make It Naked   January 10, 2011 at 8:25 pm

    Looks delish and so beautiful! I want to candy those peels! One woman’s peels are another’s candy? Isn’t that how it goes?

  8. 8
    Brittany   January 10, 2011 at 9:21 pm

    Some wicked photos! Love to wake up and have that salad tomorrow.

  9. 9
    SixBalloons   January 10, 2011 at 9:55 pm

    Oooh the elusive Pyrex Dots bowl! I’ve never seen one out “in the wild”. Sorry to keep focusing on the neat vintage kitchen stuff of yours, I honestly really love your recipes too!

  10. 10
    Jacqui   January 10, 2011 at 10:08 pm

    They look like jewels of goodness! This sounds so good right now, I’m going to have to go out and get more citrus tomorrow!

  11. 11
    Joanne   January 11, 2011 at 3:20 am

    I love citrus at this time of year and having that array of colors on my counter would make me unbelievably happy. All that color! This salad sounds delicious. I need to stock up on my citrus and when I do, I will surely be making it!

  12. 12
    alana (at) the food   January 11, 2011 at 5:55 am

    YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMM!

  13. 13
    bellcurves   January 11, 2011 at 8:05 am

    So pretty! I’m loving citrus right at this time of the year. So colorful!

  14. 14
    Lima   January 11, 2011 at 9:27 am

    It’s the prettiest salad I ever did see!

  15. 15
    Foodelf   January 11, 2011 at 12:05 pm

    Jeanette, what kind of Greek Yogurt do you use? I live in Vancouver, too – but don’t really know what to choose.

    This citrus extravaganza looks delicious.

  16. 16
    Tracy   January 11, 2011 at 12:34 pm

    I agree, citrus and greek yogurt are a beautiful match.

  17. 17
    Jammy Chick   January 11, 2011 at 12:56 pm

    Fabulous assortment of citrus – and those blood oranges look amazing. You could make an awesome assortment of candied citrus rind with the leftover peels.

  18. 18
    la ninja   January 11, 2011 at 1:09 pm

    wowza mamma. colour it is. and how we need it in winter. ta πŸ™‚

  19. 19
    CookiePie   January 11, 2011 at 1:20 pm

    That salad is so, so, so pretty!!! Gorgeous!!!

  20. 20
    Rivki Locker (Ordinary Blogger)   January 11, 2011 at 1:31 pm

    This is SO gorgeous. I love the combination of colors. I make it a point to eat at least two citrus fruits a day in the winter (to ward off colds!). I love oranges, grapefruits, and pomelos (have you ever had one? they are amazing) and I find I can eat them without ANY embellishment. But this salad looks wonderful, especially because I am SUCH a fan of pecans and yogurt. Thanks for a great inspiration.

  21. 21
    Kimberley   January 11, 2011 at 4:09 pm

    I find little as pretty as images of sectioned citrus. It’s a shame that I haven’t had a blood orange yet this season!

  22. 22
    jan   January 11, 2011 at 9:02 pm

    wow – those look delicious!

  23. 23
    seesaw   January 12, 2011 at 9:06 am

    wow. super yum.

  24. 24
    kickpleat   January 12, 2011 at 10:32 am

    Thanks for all your lovely comments! Now I’m cursing myself that I didn’t use the peels to make candy…what was I thinking!!

    Foodelf, the stuff I’m currently using is Greek Gods greek yogurt – it’s really good. I’ve also really loved Krema’s low fat greek yogurt and Liberte’s 0% greek. All good choices readily available in Vancouver.

    Rivki, I’ve had a pomelo only once before and I loved it. I liked how dry it seemed but when I bit into it – a pop of juice and flavour! Thanks for the reminder.

  25. 25
    Rocky Mountain Woman   January 12, 2011 at 2:12 pm

    That looks so good.

    Simple and healthful and just perfect!!!

  26. 26
    Maggie @ Crumb bum   January 12, 2011 at 4:16 pm

    This looks so bright and lovely! A perfect afternoon treat with tea. I think I am going to throw some clementines in mine..

  27. 27
    lo   January 12, 2011 at 5:57 pm

    I’ll give one thing to you — winter salads always need something like “Wallop” in the title… just to give them some oomph. This reminds me of an updated version of the old fashioned fruit salads my grandmother used to make. Lovely. Comforting. And tasty.

  28. 28
    kickpleat   January 14, 2011 at 12:20 pm

    Thanks, RMW!

    Maggie, I put clementines in mine and it was perfect!

    Ha, I agree, lo! Always the wallop!

  29. 29
    Tim   January 14, 2011 at 3:53 pm

    This looks so beautiful,Jeannette. I’m catching up on my blog reading and you have been cooking so much good food. I hope 2011 is treating you well!

  30. 30
    Nicole   January 14, 2011 at 10:50 pm

    This will be breakfast tomorrow morning. I can’t wait.

  31. 31
    shellie   January 16, 2011 at 11:32 am

    like gorgeous jewels there are….i keep telling my husband we need to get an morro orange tree…yummy!

  32. 32
    kickpleat   January 16, 2011 at 3:10 pm

    Aw thanks so much for stopping by Tim! Have I told you how much I love the L+D tote? It’s seriously the best thing ever. Ever!

    Nicole, enjoy it all!

    Hmm, now I’m curious about what a morro orange is! Thanks Shellie!

  33. 33
    steve   March 2, 2013 at 8:53 am

    What do you do with all the peels?

  34. 34
    kickpleat   March 3, 2013 at 9:11 am

    Steve, if you want you can candy them or zest them all beforehand & let them dry for use in flavoured sugars or salts or seasonings for cooking. I’m sure google would also have a ton more ideas.

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