I spent a good portion of my youth vacationing in Liguria. I was lucky enough to have a friend’s Italian mother to indulge me with my fascination for all things Italian and of course, I was a wee bit obsessive, much to her amusement. We ate really well.
I don’t remember this salad but it easily might have been served along with her other magic dishes.
After seeing a video of Asian shrimp being injected with some gross substance so that they’ll weigh more, I’ve turned to wild caught shrimp, both fresh and frozen. Happily, they’re more readily available and they taste much better.
If you wanted to drop the shrimp, this is still a great salad combination, inspired by a recipe from Laura Giannatempo’s A Ligurian Kitchen: Recipes and tales from the Italian Riviera. The original recipe has you grilling shrimp and indeed you should, if that’s handy. I gently pan sauteed shrimp in tons of garlic with olive oil and added them to the salad. If there were a grill going, I would have used that.
I will confess that the idea of fennel never appeals to me but the reality of it is almost always great. Trader Joe’s often has it in the vegetable section for a very reasonable price. I find thinly slicing it with my mandolin makes it perfect and mellow. Big hunks of raw fennel are weird. You can cut the onions with the mandolin as well, as long as you have it out.
Arugula, Fennel, Chickpea and Shrimp Salad
For the salad
1 small fennel bulb
4 cups baby arugula (rocket), washed and dried
1 orange, peeled and cut into segments
1/2 small red onion,
1 cup cooked Rancho Gordo Garbanzo beans
salt and pepper to taste
1 pound of shrimp, cooked as you like
For the dressing
1 teaspoon honey
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon orange juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Can you direct readers to a printable version of the recipe? Thank you.