Sicilian Salad

This recipe is a restaurant copy from one of our favorite places to go for a casual dinner, Mozza Mia! I think this salad is their signature salad and it's a great combo of flavors.  One flavor that I have yet to really decide if I like or not is fennel.  It has a VERY strong licorice flavor, otherwise known as anise.  At Mozza Mia the chef obviously knows how to disguise this flavor.  I can't say I was quite as successful, but I did use a touch of light butter and garlic to sauté which helped soften it a bit.  The citrus, arugula and pine nuts played off of each other well to create a crisp and refreshing summer salad.

Servings: 2
Serving Size: 1 entree salad
Points Plus: 3pp
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: n/a

Ingredients:
Arugula
1/4 cup fennel, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp. light butter
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 grapefruit, cut into slices
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
2 oz. shredded Parmesan cheese
Splash of grapefruit juice
Salt & pepper

Directions:
Wash and plate out two entree salad servings of arugula.  Slice the fennel into very thin slices (think shaved onion slices).  Add 1 Tbsp. light butter and 1 tsp. minced garlic to a small sauté pan and add the fennel slices.  Cook over medium heat until the fennel starts to soften, about 4-5 minutes.  Toast the pine nuts until just brown on the stovetop.  Assemble the salads by layering on the grapefruit slices, fennel, pine nuts, and 1 oz. of Parmesan cheese per salad.  Instead of a traditional salad dressing I squeezed some fresh grapefruit juice over the top of my salad and seasoned with salt & pepper.

Tip:
In the true spirit of a restaurant copy I wanted to try out the salad with fennel.  However, I think my recommendation would be to omit the fennel next time! :)

XOXO Megan