With Lemon Shallot Vinaigrette
Serves 2 in 15 minutes
This refreshing salad is delicious and easy to prep, if you have great knife skills or a mandolin (not the musical instrument, but a slicing too). Mandolins are relatively inexpensive and are ideal for slicing vegetables paper thin. It’s the tool you need for crudité platters or whenever you want to create thin slices of anything. Just be careful with the mandolin, using the handle to secure the fennel so it doesn’t slip. Serve immediately or refrigerate and eat within an hour.
Salad Ingredients
2 cups arugula, butter lettuce or mixed baby greens
½ cup fennel, thinly shaved
2 mandarins, tangerines, or blood orange segments, peeled and seeded
½ avocado, sliced
2 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted
Using a mandolin or very sharp knife, slice the fennel very thin. Pan roast the pine nuts until golden brown over medium low in a dry skillet, stirring every 15 seconds. Prep the citrus into segments and remove any seeds or tough white membranes. Slice the avocado. Make the lemon-shallot vinaigrette. Then toss the greens with some of the dressing, put on a serving plate and artfully arrange the fennel, pine nuts, mandarins, and avocado on top.
Lemon Shallot Salad Dressing
Makes ~ 1 cup in 15 minutes
This is one of my favorite salad dressings because it features shallots, a member of the onion family with a soft, sweet flavor. When soaked in lemon juice, shallots brighten any salad without overwhelming it. Just blend with a touch of honey, citrus champagne vinegar, and fragrant oils and the result is delicious! Plus, shallots contain high levels of quercetin, a flavonoid that may help reduce seasonal allergies because it acts as a natural antihistamine.
INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons minced shallots
Juice of 1 lemon (~ 2-3 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons citrus champagne vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
1 teaspoon honey
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup avocado oil
¼ teaspoon honey
¼ teaspoon each sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
DIRECTIONS
In a small jar, soak the minced shallots in lemon juice for at least 10 minutes (but up to an hour is fine). Add the vinegar, oil, honey, salt, and pepper and shake vigorously.
Assemble your salad and toss with the vinaigrette right before serving.