With all the sunshine and warm weather we’ve been having, I’ve been craving all the fresh, bright, light foods of spring. Every day for the past week, I’ve been craving some version of this salad, which I’ll eat on a big bed of baby lettuces for lunch or just like this as a snack right after working out or gardening. It’s so refreshing!
Simple, fresh ingredients always make me feel so much better physically. I’ve written about it here before, but I suffer from frequent migraines and am pretty sensitive to the triggers, some of which I can control through diet, others I can’t avoid because they have more to do with weather. The things I should avoid are strong aged cheeses, red wine (and if I’m honest, any alcohol), foods with nitrates (like cured meats), and many pickled or preserved foods… you know, just all the good things in life! While I do limit my exposure to these things, I don’t completely cut them out of my life, but it certainly helps to eat mostly fresh foods, including tons of fresh fruit and veggies. Bonus: these things also help my skin look its best.
Above, my current favorite salad: red grapefruit slices, plenty of thinly sliced fennel, and just a drizzle of dressing (I use Winslow’s Home’s dressing, which is so good because it is emulsified and thus keeps its creamy consistency without tasting mayonnaise-y, and without the oil and vinegar separating in the fridge), but you can use any light dressing.
Have a wonderful day!
So this is weird, but I hated fennel. Mostly because I don’t like licorice flavor at all – even anise and cardamom are not my favorite. But I WANTED to like fennel. So I did a little experiment on myself. I treated it like I would do for my kids – I just kept introducing it until I started to like it. At first I only used it after caramelizing the heck out of it, but eventually I could eat it raw, and thinly sliced like this. It took about a year. I still can’t do the feathery leaves though – those are the most pungent. I’ve sprinkled a little on, and have tried the seeds as well, but I’m still working on that!
I do love grapefruit though. I could eat it every day.
I made a really good salad dressing last night with mascarpone, the juice of half a meyer lemon, a little bit of parmesan, a drizzle of olive oil and some salt and pepper. It was really delicious, and different, for a creamy dressing.