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Dessert: Spanish Cheeses w/Blood Orange Salad

Source of Recipe

"The Cheese Course" by Janet Fletcher


Recipe Introduction

"One of the most unusual and memorable desserts I've ever encountered was served to me at Nunez de Prado, a Spanish olive oil estate. For the final course in a meal designed to showcase the estate's extra-virgin oil, the kitchen sent forth a simple platter of honey-and-oil-drizzled sliced oranges with almond pastries. This salad contains no honey, but in its simplicity it comes close to my Nunez de Prado memory. With it, offer three Spanish cheeses of varying texture and pungency: perhaps Garrotxa, Roncal and the blue-veined Picon. If blood oranges aren't available, use navel oranges."

List of Ingredients

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 large shallot, minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 blood oranges
12 to 18 fresh mint leaves
11/2 pounds Spanish cheese, of 3 varieties



Recipe

In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, shallot, and salt and pepper to taste. Let stand 30 minutes to allow shallot flavor to mellow.

Cut a slice off both ends of each orange so they will stand upright. Stand an orange on a cutting surface and, using a sharp knife, remove all the peel and white pith by slicing from top to bottom all the way around the orange, following the contour of the fruit. Repeat with remaining oranges.

Cut the peeled oranges crosswise into slices 1/4 inch thick. Discard the first and last slices if they seem to be mostly membrane. Remove the small bit of white pith at the center of each slice. Arrange fruit on a platter or divide among 6 individual plates. Tear the mint leaves into small pieces and scatter over the orange slices. Spoon the dressing over the oranges, making sure the shallots are evenly distributed.

If you have arranged the oranges on a platter, serve cheeses separately from a cheese board. For an individual presentation, put a small portion of each cheese alongside the oranges on each plate.