If you are like me you eat a lot of salads.  I love salads but admittedly they can get boring really quick.  Here is a great way to use local and in season food to add some excitement to your salads.

The excitement in this salad comes from the dressing which can be used so many ways.  I’ve used it to marinate the vegetables on top of the beet greens for one.

Vegetable Medley with Citrus Dressing

1 Fennel Blub – sliced very thin

3 medium size watermelon radishes – sliced very thin

For dressing:

1/2 cup white wine vinegar

1/4 cup blood orange juice

1/4 cup Meyer Lemon Juice

4 Tablespoons Meyer Lemon peel

4 Tablespoons Blood Orange peel

1 cup vegetable oil

Before juicing the Blood Orange and Meyer Lemon remove the rind using a microplane zester.  Juice both the Blood Orange and Meyer Lemon.  In a small bowl combine both the fresh juices, the citrus peel and vinegar.  Slowly start whisking in the vegetable oil.  Chill for at least 3 hours before using as a dressed salad.  Shake well before serving.

For the vegetable medley salad:

Combine the Watermelon Radishes and the Fennel in a bowl and 1/2 cup of the above dressing.  I marinated this over night but several hours should be plenty of time.

Before serving it over fresh greens or the beet greens shown in the picture I remove from the liquid and toss the greens in whatever is left and then there isn’t too much dressing on my salad.  Arrange the marinated vegetables to the top of the greens and then crumble a little fresh goat cheese over the top and serve.

I would love to hear if you are using any local and season food in your cooking right now.  Would also love to hear if you use this recipe for more then a dressing.  Leave a comment here or connect with me on Facebook.

Heather