Spring is in the air, we can feel it, because we're craving fresh light salads, such as this aromatic shaved fennel with sweet orange segments over romaine for an excellent tasting Fennel Orange Salad {Insalata di Finocchio e Arancia}. To top it off, we've made a tangy orange and lemon vinaigrette to dress and compliment the salad.
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A recipe explanation...
Gone are the cravings for hearty dishes. Instead, we're looking forward to making grilled fish( pesce alla griglia), grilled chicken (pollo o gallina alla griglia), grilled meat (carne alla griglia) and last but not least, grilled vegetables (verdure alla griglia).
If you're wondering why I've also used the name gallina for chicken, it's because growing up I only heard chicken referred to as "gallina." Although in Italy, a young chicken is referred to as "pollo," which is ideal for grilling, and once the chicken gets older and is laying eggs, it's called "gallina," which would be ideal for making a good brodo.
In fact, there's a saying in Italy -- Una gallina vecchia fa buon brodo {An old hen makes a good broth}.
Fresh salad inspiration
It was easy coming up with the idea to make this Fennel Orange Salad. Everywhere we turn we see tree branches loaded with beautiful oranges, grapefruits, lemons and limes.
Some of the limbs are bent over, almost touching the ground, from the weight of their fruit. The Farmers Market bins are filled to the brim with citrus fruit as well as countless varieties of lettuce, spring peas, new potatoes, asparagus, fennel, etc.
Fresh greens with the citrus
When I spotted the fresh romaine, I thought it would add a great crunch to the Fennel Orange Salad I wanted to make. As my Honey and I wandered the aisles checking out all the fresh produce, we could smell the sweet scent of fresh-picked strawberries.
Close to here is a place called Plant City, Florida, which is known as the winter strawberry capital of the world. I can't wait to pick up several quarts of those delicious ruby red berries next time we're in the market.
To add to our citrus inspiration, my sweet sister-in-law sent us two boxes filled with grapefruit and lemons from her trees in Arizona. My Honey and I can't believe how delicious her fruit is. How we wish we had access to this type of citrus fruit year round.
The perfect dressing
Lemons typically can be quite acidic but both her grapefruit and lemons, we find, are very mild. We don't know their variety, but we do know we'll be enjoying lemon vinaigrette dressing and delicious lemon recipes for quite a while.
What happened to the grapefruit? We ate ALL of them. 🙂
Putting the salad together
Getting back to the Fennel Orange Salad, it's very easy to put together and we assembled it ahead of time.
Just washed and tore the romaine leaves then spun them dry. We Peeled two oranges -- we did this with a knife being careful to remove all the bitter pith. We cut out the segments -- they looked so beautiful!
You can use this technique for any kind of citrus fruit.
If you want to see how to do it, there is a really good tutorial here from Fine Cooking.
Preparing the fennel
We shaved the fennel into thin slices and we slivered the purple onion.
Before serving, we sprinkled some slivered almonds on top to add a delicious crunch. We decided to add tarragon to the vinaigrette, this lent a little bit more of the mild fennel/licorice taste to the dressing.
This vinaigrette can be used for countless salads that include fruit -- right now I'm thinking spinach and those luscious strawberries 🙂
Fennel Orange Salad is a perfect first-course {primo} or side {contorno} and it goes well with any meat dish. What a nice way to welcome spring {benvenuto primavera}.
Another fennel dish that we love is our Caramelized Fennel and Onion Recipe. It is fabulous tasting vegetable that compliments chicken and pork. If you want to serve something delicious and a bit different, this dish is it.
Tutti a tavola è pronto!
Un caro saluto e alla prossima.
📖 Recipe
Fennel Orange Salad {Insalata di Finochio e Arancia}
Ingredients
- ¼ cup fresh orange juice
- 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon
- Salt and pepper to taste q.b.
- 4 cups torn romaine leaves
- 2 cups shaved fennel bulb
- 2 cups fresh orange segments
- ¼ cup slivered purple onion
- ¼ cup slivered almonds
- Fennel fronds -- garnish**
Instructions
- Whisk together the orange juice, lemon juice, olive oil, a nd tarragon; season with salt and freshly ground pepper
- Place one cup of romaine leaves on each plate and divide the orange, fennel, onion, between the four plates. Sprinkle with the almonds and splash each serving with the vinaigrette and serve immediately. You can make up the salad ahead of time and then dress the salad just before serving.
Notes
- **The fennel fronds are edible. They have a mild licorice taste.
Nutrition
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