We’ve eaten this at least once a week for the past few months. Serve it side-by-side with a bowl of soup or make it a meal by adding grilled scallops, shrimp, or tofu.
Thin slices of marinated fennel and cucumbers create a tangy bite which nicely balances the light, spicy arugula.
I’ve made this for a number of friends and have been asked for this recipe countless times. After typing it out to the last person, I realized my email outbox was starting to look like a food blog. It was that moment that I decided to stop putting things off already and get this site up…
Fennel & Arugula Salad
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Author: Jeanine Donofrio
Serves: 2
Ingredients
- 1 medium fennel bulb, shaved thin
- 1 small or ½ large cucumber, peeled and shaved thin
- Juice of ½ lemon, more to taste
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, more to taste
- ¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
- 2-3 large handfuls arugula
- 5 basil leaves, chopped
- Small handful feta cheese, to taste
- Sea salt
- 1 teaspoon agave nectar or honey (optional)
- Pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
Instructions
- Toss the shaved fennel and cucumber with with the lemon, olive oil, agave nectar (if using), and a pinch of salt and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, toast and chop the pine nuts.
- Put the arugula in a large bowl and toss with the marinated fennel & cucumbers, pouring most of the lemon dressing on top. Taste and adjust salt, olive oil, lemon juice, and agave to your liking.
- Top with the toasted pine nuts, basil, and feta. A pinch of red pepper flakes is a nice touch here, too.
Recipe adapted from 101 Cookbooks
arugula has a really interesting flavor, but the whole combination of the salad seems to work pretty good!
I paired your salad with Martha Stewart’s Beer Can Chicken with Fig Pan Sauce. It was the perfect complement to the richness of the chicken. I stumbled across your recipe after I saw that fennel and arugula were good paired with fig. Thanks so much! We will be making this again and again.