Antoni Porowski, the food and wine guru on Netflix's sensation Queer Eye, meets people where they live—literally. With appealing vulnerability, in new book Antoni in the Kitchen, he shows cooks of all levels how to become more confident and casual in the kitchen. The verve and naturalness of his approach earned raves from Food & Wine and Bon Appétit to GQ and the New York Times, which noted his dishes prove that “sometimes simple is anything but simplistic.”
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SERVES 4
In the winter, when I long for fresh produce, I serve this citrus and fennel salad, which reminds me of Italy. Cutting the fennel as thin as humanly possible dials back some of the intensity of the anisey flavor, giving you more delicate but still crunchy strands of translucent goodness. Chilling the citrus makes the salad extra refreshing.
TIP: I like to use a mix of citrus here, because I love the variety of flavors— some sweet, others tangy. (Plus, the colours!) But you can also go single citrus, if you want to— this recipe is flexible. Purchase whatever you like best.
2 tablespoons shelled unsalted pistachios
About 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
2 blood oranges or Cara Cara oranges, chilled
1 pink grapefruit, preferably small, chilled
1 navel orange, chilled
1 medium to large fennel bulb, preferably with fronds, stalks removed and fronds reserved (optional); bulb cut lengthwise in half, cored, and very thinly sliced
Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
Freshly ground black pepper
1 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Heat the oven to 350ºF, with a rack in the middle.
Spread the pistachios on a small baking sheet (or use a pie pan) and toast until fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately toss with ½ teaspoon oil and a generous pinch of kosher salt, then transfer to a plate to cool. Coarsely chop.
Using a sharp paring knife, trim off the tops and bottoms of the citrus fruits to expose the flesh. Stand one piece of fruit on end and cut away the peel and white pith, following the curve of the fruit from top to bottom. Repeat with the remaining citrus, then cut all the fruit crosswise into ¼-inch-thick slices. Cut one slice (your choice of fruit) into small wedges and set aside for garnish. Arrange the remaining slices slightly overlapping on a serving platter.
In a medium bowl, toss together the fennel, a generous pinch each of flaky salt and pepper, and 2 tablespoons oil, then arrange over the citrus. If you have fennel fronds, coarsely chop enough to yield 1 to 2 tablespoons.
Drizzle the salad with the lemon juice, then top with the pistachios, reserved citrus pieces, a couple good pinches of flaky salt, and the fennel frond, if using.
Southern Italian/Cold NYC Winter Salad is excerpted from ANTONI IN THE KITCHEN © 2019 by Antoni Porowski with Mindy Fox. Photography © 2019 by Paul Brissman. Reproduced by permission of Rux Martin Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.