As mentioned last week, I am guilty of buying cookbooks {especially ones with pretty covers and pictures!} and rarely actually cooking out of them. I recently picked up this gorgeous Sicilian cookbook {get it here!} filled with rustic recipes and beautiful scenic imagery. But this time around, I was determined to crack it open and learn something new! For our second edition of Cooking Out of Your Comfort Zone, I took on the Insalta di Arance!

Recipe: Insalata di Arance (Orange Salad)

Ingredients

3-4 fennel bulbs, thinly sliced
8 oranges
1 cup roasted olives {or your favorite combo from the olive bar!}

For the dressing:
5 tablespoons olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon, strained
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon fennel seeds (optional)
salt and pepper

Start by preparing your dressing. Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, parsley and fennel seeds in a bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Cut off the peel from the oranges, removing all of the white pith. Cut the flesh into rounds. {Editor’s note: I mixed CaraCara and Valencia oranges to get a pretty mix of color. You can even try grapefruit!}. Slice your fennel – I recommend using a mandolin to really get them thin. It’s my new favorite kitchen tool! In a large bowl add the fennel and olives. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and serve!

Since fennel has such a strong flavor, I eye-balled how much I wanted in the salad. I would say that it serves 6, not 8.

This recipe was very simple to make and I love that it turned out looking just like the  picture in the book! It was so refreshing and juicy with really bright flavors. I loved the vibrant colors it added to the table. A perfect potluck dish to wow your friends at your next barbecue!

If you missed it, you have to bookmark this recipe for Spicy Garlic Shrimp on Coconut Rice with Mango Basil Salsa!

original photography for apartment 34 by Simone Anne // styling and art direction by erin hiemstra