As I laid on the beach Saturday, I occasionally glanced up to watch Chris surf waves I didn’t have the guts to attempt while simultaneously flipping through 3 borrowed issues of Food and Wine magazine. February, March and April. No shame.
If they were my magazines, I would have dog eared just about every single page in all three magazines, put on my stretchy jeggings and made every featured recipe. However, this Citrus Fennel Salad was the one I snapped a picture of with my phone and immediately sent to Chrissy.
We had to go with this recipe because the ingredient challenge this week is well, fennel. You can serve this salad all on it’s own or with shrimp, seared ahi, or pork tenderloin. It would also be delightful served over arugula or spinach. We also considered the addition of avocado chunks. It’s clearly versatile, so dress it up to your liking!
We could have just used fennel seeds as a seasoning but despite the arm and a leg we Chrissy paid for it, we went with crispy, crunchy fresh fennel and made it the star of the dish! If you aren’t familiar with fennel, it has a mild licorice or anise flavor to it. I am not a huge fan of licorice but fennel is groovy and after making this Citrus Fennel Salad, I’m officially in love.
Chrissy and I have decided we should most definitely sacrifice a few extra bucks and make this salad once a week. We kept it simple tonight and served it over a bed of spinach with a sprinkle of mint. Now were sitting here wishing we would have added some protein because we’re still hungry. Let the grazing commence!
Little Yellow Note: Eating a raw veggie salad for dinner means you can afford to eat a lot more dessert, or perhaps even 4th meal.
We actually made 1/4 of this recipe and it was perfect for 2. So, for those of you who like myself, don’t do the math thing: the following recipe serves about 6.
In other news, we have brand spankin’ new ICM (more affectionately known as Ingredient Challenge Monday) challenger this week, Tiffany from Como Water! Check out hers and all the other fabulous ICM girls fennel recipes here:
Citrus Fennel Salad
adapted from Food & Wine Magazine
Ingredients
1 large grapefruit, sectioned
1/3 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons mint, chopped
2 fennel bulbs, thinly sliced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
Directions
Cut the frons off of the fennel and cut the bulb in half. Cut in on an angle to remove the core on each half. Thinly slice (on a mandoline if available) the fennel and red onion and place into a large salad bowl. Add the grapefruit sections.
Whisk together the orange juice, red wine vinegar, olive oil and honey. Pour over the salad. Serve with a sprinkling of mint garnish.
From the Little Yellow Kitchen,
Lauren
