Bitter Sweet Winter Salad

These December days the chance of finding lettuce in the farmers market is slim to none. Its the season where I want a salad but have forgotten the amazing chopped salads that come with winter. My dear friend Ajna came to visit and prepared a beautiful fennel and radicchio salad filled with cilantro. Wow! Now I have been playing with fennel, chicories of all kinds as well as the Asian spicy greens again as the winter deepens. Citrus is a prefect compliment to the fennel and trevisio in this salad and I found some beautiful meyer lemons, but any lemon will do. I juiced the lemon in the juicer to get the zest into the mix as well which is bright and floral.

Ingredients:

1 bulb of fennel with the tops saved for lamb broth

1 medium trevisio or any of your favorite chicory

2 stalks of celery

¼ of a large onion, or 1 small one

½ cup cilantro

½ cup parsley

½ olive oil

1 meyer lemon juiced whole (or juice and zest)

salt and white pepper to taste

1- Finely slice the vegetables and cut into small pieces. Finely chop the herbs

2- Place them all in the large serving bowl. Douse generously with olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper.

3-Toss and serve. Make twice as much as you will eat because it is delicious the next day.