Orange Kumquat Date and Feta Salad

Hey guys! It’s me, Arkadi! We decided to change things up and switch jobs so I made the salad, typed up the post and Sarah got to be the taste tester! Me and my friend Martha Stewart made a pretty good salad here that we wanted to share with you and since this is my first post, go easy on me.  So here it goes:

Some years ago, when we were looking at different venues for our wedding reception, we got a kick out of some menu items. For example: “vegetable medley” or “orchestra of potatoes” or our fave “symphony of beans” (in this case it is actually true because the more you eat the more you…)!  Really, you can make anything simple sounds so fancy and somewhat confusing (i.e. orchestra of potatoes  – I could hear Derek Zoolander asking “How do the potatoes make music? Do they  like have tiny little fingers that play tiny little musical instruments?”).

Well, I tell you, this orange kumquat date and feta salad is a true symphony of flavors (my cheese balls factors just went up)! Should you try this salad, you will find out how sensitive your palate is to a variety of flavors all at once. In  this salad, we have oranges, kumquats, dates, feta cheese, hot peppers and mint! As crazy as this combination sounds it actually works.  A forkful of this salad is like a party in your mouth- zing from the citrus, sweetness from the dates, a tad of saltiness from the feta, spiciness from the hot peppers and to finish it of, freshness from the mint.  So if you would like to put your palate to the test and try this salad, here is the recipe for you:

Orange Kumquat Date and Feta Salad
 
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Recipe type: Side
Serves: 2 servings
Ingredients
  • 2 oranges, such as a mix of navel and blood oranges
  • 4 kumquats
  • 4 large dry dates, quartered and pitted
  • 50 grams of feta cheese, thinly cubed
  • 1.5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 3 sprigs mint
  • ½ small hot pepper (ribs and seeds removed, if less heat is desired), thinly sliced into rings
Instructions
  1. Remove peel and pith from oranges with a sharp knife. Slice into thin rounds; remove seeds.
  2. Slice kumquats into thin rounds; remove seeds.
  3. Arrange on a platter with dates, hot pepper rings and cheese.
  4. Sprinkle with mint leaves
  5. Drizzle with oil
  6. Season with salt and pepper.
  7. Serve

  Because this salad is so refreshing, colorful and fun, I thought about renaming it this instead:  “Welcome Spring and Goodbye Winter Salad”

Orange Kumquat Date and Feta Salad2

Orange Kumquat Date and Feta Salad1