Sachnowitz Salad

By corlear

Chef's Note: This salad was created by Larry Sachnowitz, a very dear friend and neighbor of the restaurant. We honor his spirit with this tribute to his skill with everything from the garden. Belgian endive and grapefruit sections are brought together with a citrus and mint vinaigrette — a wouderful combination of ingredients that complement each other.

Chef’s Tips: An attractive presentation is to chiffonade an ingredient, which means to slice into strips varying from very thin to 1/4-inch.

If desired, Boston lettuce can be included with this recipe. Reserve 4 leaves and tear lettuce to yield 2 cups. Add torn lettuce to diced grapefruit and endive chiffonade; toss with reserved dressing. Place a Boston leaf on each plate, then 3 endive leaves pointed up and out and top with the dressed endive mixture. Garnish as described.

If you have the chance, make this dressing with sweet Texas grapefruit such as Rio Star or Ruby Red.

Ingredients

• For Citrus Mint Dressing (yields 2 1/2 cups):
• 1 grapefruit, sectioned
• 1 orange, sectioned
• 1 large shallot, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons chiffonade fresh mint
• 1/4 cup tequila
• 1/4 cup sugar
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• For Salad:
• 1 cup Citrus Mint Dressing
• 6 medium Belgian endive
• 2 grapefruit, segmented (see directions)
• 1 tablespoon chiffonade mint leaves

Preparation

Step 1

For the Citrus Mint Dressing:
In a very hot cast iron skillet, blacken citrus sections and shallot, turning constantly 1 minute.

Place citrus in a medium bowl. Add vinegar, oil and mint to citrus mixture; reserve.

In a small skillet heat tequila and sugar. Use extreme caution to flambé mixture; ignite tequila by either tilting skillet towards flame on range or lighting with a long taper match.

Combine tequila syrup with reserved mixture; season with salt and pepper. Store in covered container in refrigerator up to 1 week.

For the Salad:
Remove 12 large leaves from endive and reserve. Chiffonade remaining endive crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces; set aside.

Reserve 12 grapefruit sections; dice remaining grapefruit.

In a large bowl, toss diced grapefruit and chiffonade endive in Citrus Mint Dressing.

To serve, place 3 endive leaves pointed up and out on each plate and top with dressed salad; garnish with reserved grapefruit sections and mint chiffonade.