Love Salad

A sexy purple-red colour salad of Yotam Ottolenghi to celebrate love with its real flavours: bitter and sweet. WOW!

Ingredients:

lots of red things:

2 blood oranges

110 ml blood orange juice

20 ml lemon juice

60 g maple syrup

1 pinch salt

1/2 tsp orange blossom water

1/2 small radicchio, leaves separated

1 small red endive, leaves separated

1 handful small red leaves

1 tsp olive oil

coarse sea salt and black pepper

150 g good quality ricotta cheese

20 g pinenuts, toasted

100 g pomegranate seeds (from 1 small fruit)

Start by making an orange syrup. Cut the top and bottom of each orange, then cut down the sides, following the fruit's natural lines, to remove the skin and white pith. Hold the fruit over a small bowl and cut in between the membranes, thereby removing the individual segments. Put these into the bowl. Squeeze any remaining juices from the fruit into a small saucepan, then add enough juice to bring it up to 110ml. Add the lemon juice, syrup and a pinch of salt, and bring to a light simmer. Leave to reduce for 20-25 minutes, until you're left with about three tablespoons of thick syrup. Strain through a fine sieve, allow it to cool down, then stir in the orange blossom water.

To assemble the dish, roughly tear the radicchio leaves into large pieces and put in a bowl. Add the endive leaves, oil, salt and pepper, then toss gently. Divide the dressed leaves between two plates, building up the salad by dotting it with orange segments and spoonfuls of ricotta. Drizzle the syrup on top and finish with a scattering of pinenuts and pomegranate seeds together with the small red leaves.