With triple digits here in Phoenix, it’s so hot I can’t even look at my oven. I want meals that fill me up without weighing me down. So I just open my refrigerators vegetable drawer and let my imagination take over because the possibilities are endless. For this salad I had quite a few vegetables that needed to get used before they expired. I shaved some fennel always a refreshing addition to a summer salad, added a bit of arugula, radicco, celery, mint, tarragon, gala apples topped it off with some toasted pine nuts then made a deliciously simple apple cider vinaigrette. I sliced some rustic bread and this became the perfect meal when the outside temperature is just too hot for anything else.
Vinaigrette
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp chopped tarragon divided
½ tsp sugar
1 tbsp fennel fronds chopped
1 tsp mint chopped
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salad
2 small fennel bulbs thinly sliced. I use a mandolin
2 stalks of celery sliced in half vertically then a small slice
1 gala or granny smith apple quartered then thinly sliced. I use a mandolin
8 radicco leaves julienned
1 C arugula
1 tbsp mint chopped
½ C toasted pine nuts or any nut of your choosing.
For the vinaigrette whisk the first 5 ingredients together in a small bowl, slowly add the olive oil. Set aside. In another bowl add the first 6 ingredients then drizzle with the vinaigrette toss lightly and top with the toasted pine nuts