Ree Drummond has the perfect citrus salad for a beautiful brunch spread or simple lunch side dish. She described the salad during the introduction of her cooking show. “There’s a fresh, gorgeous, sweet, savory citrus salad with champagne vinegar dressing that’s effortless and puts the fizz into brunch sides,” Drummond said.
Drummond made the citrus salad ahead of time for a brunch
The Food Network host demonstrated how to make the recipe on an episode of The Pioneer Woman dedicated to hosting a brunch for friends.
“I’m having five of my good buddies over for brunch tomorrow and I’m putting together a delicious and beautiful spread,” she said. “This citrus salad is where beautiful comes in. This is going to go alongside the tater tot casserole and Bloody Mary’s I’ve already put together.”
Drummond added, “The great thing about this brunch is that everything is make ahead.”
How to make ‘The Pioneer Woman’ star’s citrus salad
To make the salad, Drummond sliced oranges, blood oranges, and limes. “It’s kind of nice to mix in the light green color with the beautiful orange and the deep red of the blood oranges,” she explained.
Drummond added another non-citrus ingredient for contrast. “This is not citrus, but it’s pretty,” she said. “I’ve got some radishes and I’m just going to slice them and those will get sprinkled over the top of the citrus.”
She arranged the citrus slices on a platter, starting with the regular orange. “I think there was a time when I was younger that I thought I had to spend days getting ready for a party,” The Pioneer Woman star noted. “I would actually iron napkins. Who will go napkins? Not I. I tell you that.”
Drummond added, “But making it the day ahead, oh boy. It just makes life that much more enjoyable.”
Drummond made an easy salad dressing
“Speaking of making life enjoyable — blood oranges,” Drummond said. “They are so beautiful. And what I like about them is some of them are deep red and then some of them are more just slightly colored on the edges.”
After placing the blood oranges on the plate, she wedged the lime slices among the oranges. “How pretty is this? It’s like a kaleidoscope,” she said. Drummond scattered the radish slices around the platter.
“So gorgeous,” she remarked. “I mean, I would dive into this right now.”
For the dressing, Drummond combined olive oil, champagne vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey, and fresh squeezed orange juice. She shook all the ingredients together in a mason jar. “I can’t remember the last time I actually whisked a salad dressing in a bowl,” she said. “This is the new whisky, shaking it in a jar.”
She added, “You don’t even have to serve this dressing over citrus salad. You can serve it over any salad. It is out-of-this-world.”
Drummond covered the salad with plastic wrap and refrigerated it until ready to serve. Before serving, she drizzled dressing over the salad and sprinkled on whole mint leaves. “And that’s the salad,” the Food Network host said. “Gorgeous. It’ll be just the thing served alongside the casserole.”
The full recipe is available on the Food Network website.
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