Kale Fennel and Citrus Salad

Every now and then, I get into a fennel phase. Well its a phase mostly because one bulb lasts so long and you can't buy fennel in any smaller amount. One of my favorite uses for fennel is putting raw thin slices into a salad. We took a quick trip to the Santa Clara Farmer's Market over the weekend where I bought a bulb of fennel ($2) and a bunch of radishes ($1) and potatoes which I will showcase later. Farmer's market goodies, yummy! Using the newly acquired ingredients and some things I already had at home, I whipped up a great lunch.

Home grown kale from my parents' house washed and torn into pieces

Shaved fennel (The mandolin is your friend)

A few sprigs of fennel fonds

Leftover quarter tomato 

Shaved radish (1 large one or 2 small ones is enough for 1 serving)

1 orange (or whatever this is that my parents gave me. Naval orange? Any type of orange, grapefruit, or pomelo will do. Cut off cest, cut into slices)

Sprinkle salt and pepper onto the salad

Dressing:

Put olive oil,balsamic vinegar, and dijon mustard into a container and shake well. Eyeball proportions to your salad serving. Too much balsamic can be too bitter. Too much olive oil is too oily. The ratio is more like 1/4 or 1/3 balsamic and 3/4 or 2/3 oil. Half teaspoon of dijon is enough. Sprinkle sunflower seeds or other type of toasted nuts on after the dressing is mixed in with the greens. Yay salad time!