"mein herze schwimmt im blut"

a salad of sliced hearts of palm, orange peppers, maui onion and blood orange segments with a blood orange vinaigrette.

i am probably telling you more about me than anything i've ever written by admitting one of my favourite movies is "the freshman", possibly the greatest movie about self-absorption and komodo dragons (until they make the sharon stone biopic of course). and of course, my favourite character is larry london--a bloated, rambling, eccentric german chef, prone to sudden outbursts. i had seen the movie so much when it first came out that now larry's outbursts are my own (thankfully only in my head), including bach's cantata no. 199, "mein herze schwimmt im blut", which larry so helpfully points out means "my heart swims in blood". so true, larry, so true.

and there, nenes, is the inspiration for this salad.


blood orange vinaigrette

juice remaining from a segmented blood orange, plus one whole one if not particularly juicy
a couple tablespoonfuls of olive oil and red wine vinegar
salt and white pepper to taste
a tiny glop of a good honey
a light dusting of fennel pollen, if available

whisk together, and drizzle over salad.

update: just had a chat with special combo, and remembered her tangerines and pepper salt; in honour of that try adding finely chopped thai bird chilis to the vinaigrette for a little aibm stylee.