This delicious recipe for salad takes a boring old side dish and makes it delicious enough to serve all on its own. This was the second course we served during our Dinner party and the combination of the pancetta and fennel was just divine.

What You’ll Need:

1 fennel bulb, cut in half and then cut into ½ inch wedges
5 slices of pancetta
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
¼ tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
5 oz (approximately 6 to7 cups) fresh salad greens (we used spring mix)
Red wine vinaigrette (recipe below)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Chop pancetta into small pieces and in a small frying pan add a small splash of olive oil. Fry the pancetta just until firm but not overly crispy (about 2 to 3 minutes). Now combine the fennel, pancetta, brown sugar, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper into a medium sized bowl. Stir well to combine all the ingredients together and spread evenly on the baking sheet. Cook the ingredients until the pancetta is crisp and the fennel is caramelized (about 20 minutes). Remove and let cool for about 5 minutes.

When cooled place all the ingredients into a large serving bowl, toss with red wine vinaigrette and serve immediately.

Red Wine Vinaigrette

2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tbsp. lemon juice
½ tsp. honey
½ tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil.

Mix vinegar, lemon juice, honey, salt and pepper into a blender. While the machine is still blending slowly pour in the oil to emulsify it with the other ingredients. Season to taste with more salt and pepper if desired.

The mixture of the hot and cold makes this a really tasty salad.

Wine: a dry French rose.

Next recipe in this series: Savory Mashed Root Vegetables