These recipes were kindly provided by Anya McCann “because broccoli and citrus are 2 of the things I see mostly this month at farmers’ markets and also because these are very easy and elegant recipes to make and my kids and their friends like them.  :-)”

The chicory family includes both endive (Ahn-deev, which is sort of shaped like a bullet and comes in light green or red and has both a slightly bitter and a sweetness) and curly endive (Ehn-dive, a bright/dark green curly lettuce that is a solid leaf and is somewhat bitter).

This salad plays upon a combination of bitter and sweet. You can use any combination of the endive, curly endive, and fennel – but I would not overdo the fennel.

Winter Citrus Salad

Ingredients

Curly Endive (3 cups) – tear into bite sized pieces
Endive (2) – slice in ¼” rings, starting at one end
Fennel – one medium bulb, slice in half and core the bottom, place flat and slice thinly. End up with strips about 2” long
Grapefruit – (1 large or 2 small) remove peel with a knife (including all of the pith). Hold it in your hand and with a sharp knife, separate the fruit from each membrane – pull them out in whole segments
Shallots – slice thinly in rings

Dressing:
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 T fresh, local olive oil
Whisk until creamy
Add:
3 T vinegar (champagne, apple cider, or citrus)
1 tsp lemon
1 tsp agave or honey
Sea salt to taste
Fresh ground pepper (your favorite kind)

Broccoli with garlic lemon dressing

This is by far the favorite and most requested preparation of any kind for broccoli in our house.

It uses broccoli and citrus, both of which are in season.

Crush 2 medium cloves of garlic into a microwave safe glass bowl.

Add 3 T high quality olive oil and give a quick stir.

Microwave the oil until warm, but not spitting (try 20 seconds). This takes the edge off of the garlic.

Add a pinch of salt and stir until it dissolves.

Whisk in 1/3 cup fresh tart lemon

2 heads of broccoli – chop into florets that are large bite sized

Lightly steam the broccoli in a steamer or in the microwave. (2 cups of broccoli will steam nicely in a bowl with ½ cup water in 1-2 minutes in a microwave.) Do NOT over cook it. Broccoli is very unappetizing when mushy.

When it is done, run it under cold water to stop the cooking process.

(An alternate preparation of the garlic would be to sauté the garlic in the oil for a few seconds until the garlic browns.)