Mark Bittman's Citrus Salad: The Mersydotes Version

This Christmas was a special one- it was different: not the end of the year or even the beginning of the new one, but a unique time at the end of the countdown towards something really special coming in February.  We cooked cranberry bread and pulled pork and roasted potatoes- all those warm dishes for cold weather.  But we needed something bright to make it a true celebration.  Thank goodness citrus season comes in the winter.  As Mark Bittman says (click here), a good citrus salad "may not make you forget it's winter, but will relieve some of the pain."

This is my version of his sunshine salad.  I didn't make the dressing for it- somehow salt and red onions seemed a betrayal of the citrus.  Instead of grapefruit, we included oranges and kiwis, and topped everything off with pomegranate seeds.  Is there anything cooler than preparing a pomegranate?!  It's such a cool fruit- like opening the chambers of a heart!  Back in Illinois, they didn't even exist in grocery stores till maybe 5 years ago, and the only time I'd ever seen one was while traveling with Papi Mersydotes in Spain.  We were walking through the Alhambra on a December afternoon, and looking to my right I saw what I thought was a shriveled up apple tree.  But those little shriveled apples were really pomegranates- I couldn't believe it!  The afternoon sun setting over the rudy Moorish walls, the snow-capped mountains in the background, and the tinkling of the courtyard fountains will forever be inextricably linked with winter pomegranates in my mind.

A happy, bright winter to everyone!

Lots of love,

~Mersydotes