Green salad with persimmon

Kylie ordered a salad at Il Fornaio during her visit – sliced red grapes, tiny, halved brussels sprouts and pale yellow wax beans dressed in hazelnut oil – one which turned out to be the ideal antidote to a week of gluttonous but joyful eating out. During recent years I’ve done a back flip on a long-held no-fruit-in-salad rule and though, ever skeptical, I thought the combination odd, it worked a treat.

A note stuck to the fridge door reads, 'Grow the greens you cannot (easily) find'. The following salad is why, if possible, you should. Buying up pre-Christmas at the North Sydney Farmer’s Market with mum, a plastic bag, an airy pillow in fact, of small, lemony sorrel leaves from the Darling Mills farm got me thinking – long and hard and distractedly - about gardening. Their buckwheat sprouts were nice, but it was the sorrel that, for me, completely stole the show. I’ve been growing it in small pots on a sunny sill ever since. This salad, seductive in shades of deep, bright orange and dark, wintry green, combines bitter salad leaves and sweet slices of persimmon with creamy avocado dice, the crunch of fresh, Tasmanian walnuts and a zing, right at the end, of lemon juice. It nearly upstaged the leftover slices of an onion, leek and spinach tart it accompanied last night. Almost.

It requires what Stephanie Alexander refers to as ‘strong’ greens; assertive ones like rocket are ideal, perfect for the job, but it was the other greens the rocket was tossed with – greens not quite so easy to find - that brought things to life. Tender parsley and curly kale thinnings from an early morning session last week and a palmful of home-grown baby sorrel leaves made things, already rather good, even better.

Persimmons come in two distinct varieties. An astringent persimmon must be ripened to the consistency of jelly and eaten, top lopped carefully off, straight from the fruit with a spoon. We won’t be using that kind today. Their non-astringent, tomato-shaped cousins with frilly, ruffled collars however can be eaten crisp, just like apples, or at the soft ‘n squelchy end of proceedings as well as each honeyed, vanilla-scented stage in between.

They are in season, and delicious, right now.

Green salad with persimmon – feeds 2, as a side
Adapted from The Cook’s Companion. Alexander suggests dressing the salad with either extra virgin olive oil or, if you have it, avocado oil. We liked this so much that I will be seeking out a good bottle of the latter. Well-plucked flat-leaf parsley, in lieu of above mentioned exotics, is worth adding should you have any. Mine is feral.

Toast some walnuts in a dry frying pan for a few minutes, long enough to make them smell irresistible. Cool on a plate. Wash 2 small crisp, non-astringent persimmons. Slice off the blossom end using a small, serrated knife. Quarter each fruit from top to bottom, cutting out and discarding any seeds. Slice thinly and set aside.

Peel and dice an avocado. Toss everything in a large bowl with a few handfuls of rocket. Rocket is good, but a mixture of things (see above) will be better. Squeeze over a few drops of lemon juice from on high, followed by a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Toss again and serve. 

For the June edition of No Croutons Required, hosted by Jacqueline of Tinned Tomatoes.

Comments

[Court]

Avocado oil! Sorrel! Hazelnut oil! My, my.

I love your greens philosophy. I may find a similar note on my refrigerator, soon.

[Simona]

I love the way you captured the warm color of persimmons. I grew up eating the astringent kind and it has taken me some time to adapt to the other kind. Now I enjoy both.

[Sophie]

Lovely photos with the new camera Lucy - you're obviously getting the measure of it now.

Persimmons are such a rare find in England that I didn't know there were two kinds. The ones we get tend to be a little paler than yours but a similar shape & size. Whereas sorrel grows easily here - one for me to add to next years garden plans I think.

[Zoe]

I would suggest not wasting your money on avocado oil. It's very thick and lacks the delicate noms of a good nut oil.

We're growing sorrel, and mizuna and cavolo nero. If only I'd put the radicchio in, it would be perfect ;)

[maybelles mom]

I am obsessed with sorrel. And, last year I decided that I would grow my own.

[Green Bean]

Oh that looks lovely! I'm forever looking for things to do with persimmons.

[Lisa]

Glad you were to submit something to No Croutons this month. You certainly take salad to a new level with this one. Thanks Lucy.

[Johanna]

love fruit in salads but never tried persimmon - your glorious photos are tempting me - and I like your ideas of growing what you can't buy - my mum has bought me a pot of kale which I am looking forward to using

[Nick Soma]

Wow, this another breakthrough in a salad recipe, I will try this one and see how good this one is. thanks for this one!

[Jacqueline]

That is a humdinger of a salad Lucy. Lovely! I haven't tried persimmon before, but now I am intrigued! Thanks for entering this month.

Good luck!

Jacqueline
xx

[Wendy]

Adore fruit in salad. Always have. Mango, in particular.
I haven't had a decent persimmon since I left Japan. Don't think they travel well. Loved the taste of them. Hated how they made my fingers feel wrinkly though, like I'd been in the bath too long. :)

[Callipygia]

Wow you're really capturing the light of the season, gorgeous! And the salad is brilliant. I like the reminder to seek out non-astringent persimmons...I'll have to seek out avocado/hazelnut oil sounds so good. One can never have too many oils.

[Arwen]

Bitter greens and sweet fruit sounds like a lovely combination. I've always liked orange in salad, so I can believe you about the persimmon being good.

[Mariana]

Persimmons are in season now. Really? I think I may duck out to our farm on the weekend and visit our persimmon tree down on the river flat. Gee thanks for the reminder.

[Anna]

The colours in your photos are extraordinary. I come to to your site for a shot of beauty--thank you!

[Anh]

Gorgeous! I love persimmon so much that they never have a chance to go to any dishes. The salad sounds wonderful though.

[chelsea]

It's so inspiring to have such colorful ingredients. This is really lovely.

[Making Love In The Kitchen]

How gorgeous! The green and orange are beautiful together and these flavours must mix delightfully well.

[Cynthia]

O know that I have not commented in a while but I have been reading :)

I just wanted to say how much I love the photographs and the lighting.

[Karima]

I am learning so much from your posts

amazing what evocative words and deep dark images will do for the learning process

If I could find them consistently, I would have arugula and pomegranates every day - now I will have to check out persimmons too

[Elaine]

A gorgeous, luscious post, Lucy. I've never eaten persimmons or sorrel but I must make this salad, for both beauty and flavour. Plus I'm now on the lookout for new ways of eating kale thinnings. (And I just checked & can get sorrel seeds from a local seed company. Yay!)

[Fine Life Folk]

I love the drama of your food photography. It creates the perfect mood for anticipating an edible work of art...