Riverford Wicked Leeks
Purple sprouting broccoli and blood orange salad recipe image

Print Purple sprouting broccoli and blood orange salad

It's hard to construct good salads in the depths of winter, but this is one of them. Eat as a zesty starter or side. You could also make this with ordinary oranges, but they're a little less sweet, and certainly less beautiful.


Salad recipes   |   Vegan recipes  


  • 1 small or ½ a large red onion, very finely sliced
  • 1 tbsp red wine or sherry vinegar
  • 1 tsp caster sugar
  • 250g purple sprouting broccoli, trimmed & cut into roughly similar sized pieces (keep the green leaves on, they are fine to eat)
  • 4 blood oranges
  • 2 tbsp olive oil


  1. Put the onion, vinegar and caster sugar in a small bowl and stir to combine, then leave for 30 minutes.
  2. In a large pan of boiling water, blanch the purple sprouting broccoli for about 3 minutes. Drain, plunge into a bowl of ice cold water to stop the cooking process and keep the fresh green colour, then drain again.
  3. Segment the oranges: the easiest way to do this is to cut a small slice off the top and bottom so you have a flat surface to work with. Use a sharp knife to carefully cut down between the skin (including the white pith) and the orange segments. Trim off any white pith remaining.Next use the knife to slice in between the membrane of each segment on each side, to remove the segments one by one.
  4. Add the olive oil to the onion mixture and stir to combine, then place all the ingredients in a large bowl and gently toss together.