Fennel & Orange Salad with Pine Nuts

I am a lucky girl!

For one, I am blessed to have my parents live so close by.. they are precious and I love spending time with them. My parents are the retirees who have a full life with travel, church activities, family events and a full social calendar. So when they stopped by recently to visit us after our return home they came with hugs and a bag of goodies. It's so like my mom.. and my grandmother before her, to never leave a home without leaving something warm behind or to never pay a visit without a gesture of kindness in the form of baked goods, fruits and nuts or an herbal bouquet.

This time she came with some treats for the grandchildren and a huge bag of oranges for me. Yumm! My mom and dad have some friends here in our town who are citrus growers. They have quite a large orchard and are purveyors of some of the sweetest fruits I have ever tasted. These oranges were spectacular and better than any of the ones I have purchased in the market.

So here with my newly acquired bag of oranges and a fresh bulb of fennel in the refrigerator I was quick to serve a refreshing orange and fennel salad with pine nuts. If you notice in the recipe directions I encourage washing the greens of the fennel "very" well. Butterfly's LOVE love fennel plants and lay their eggs on the leaves. If you ever have the opportunity to grow fennel you will soon find out they will be amassed with caterpillars in no time. The eggs are a bit sticky and don't wash off easily so you need to check carefully! :)
Hope you enjoy this delicious salad.
Bon Appetito!

Fennel Orange Salad

Ingredients
1 Large Fennel bulb
2 Sweet Oranges
Fennel greens
� cup Pine Nuts

Directions
Clean and slice fennel. Wash fennel greens very well! Finely chop fennel greens.
Slice oranges into segments. Arrange orange segments and fennel slices nicely in a bowl.
Toss with pine nuts. Sprinkle the fennel greens on top. Drizzle dressing over the salad and serve.

Dressing Ingredients
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 Teaspoon honey
1/3 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
3-4 Tablespoon Pinot Grigio wine
1/4 teaspoon salt
A couple twists of freshly ground black pepper

Directions
In a bowl mix olive oil and honey together till blended. Whisk in orange juice and wine till ingredients are emulsified. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle a bit over the fennel and orange salad keeping the remainder for individual serving at the table.