Citrus Salad with Black Pepper

Serves 4 to 6

Citrus Salad with Black Pepper
To peel citrus fruit, use a very sharp knife. First, cut each end flat, removing all of the rind to expose the fruit itself. Next, set the fruit on end and use the knife to cut from top to bottom, removing the peel as well as the rind beneath it in a single cut. As you peel, you will also be shaping the fruit. When each fruit is peeled, cut away any white pith you might have missed the first time around. Serve this salad on a large clear or colored glass platter so that you can see the beautiful juices of each fruit mingling.

3 grapefruit (Ruby Red or Star Ruby), peeled
2 blood oranges, peeled
3 oranges (Valencia or navel,
but preferably both), peeled
1 lemon, preferably Meyer, peeled
1 lime, peeled
Kosher salt
Black pepper in a mill

Cut the grapefruit into round slices (through the equator, not the poles) about 1/8 inch thick. Arrange them in a single layer on a glass platter. Cut the oranges into rounds slightly thinner than the grapefruit. Top each grapefruit slice with a slice of orange, alternating between blood oranges and Valencia oranges to create an appealing visual effect. Slice the lemons and limes as thin as possible (but not so thin that they fall apart) and arrange them randomly on top of the oranges. Season with salt and several turns of black pepper, and set the salad aside for 30 minutes before serving.

Variation

Rather than stacking the fruits, arrange them randomly in overlapping circles.

Salt & Pepper
135 Perfectly Seasoned Recipes
By Michele Anna Jordan
Broadway Books
Hardback, $25.00, April 1999
ISBN: 0-7679-0027-8
Recipe Reprinted by permission.