Bright, tasty salad celebrates Sicily

This light, bright salad celebrates ingredients that are abundant in Sicily.

Citrus fruits, in particular, flourish and come in many varieties. Taroccos, or blood oranges, are the most popular and prized variety, so it seemed only fitting that we use them for this salad.

We liked the fennel best when it was sliced as thin as possible; this ensured its texture was delicate and crisp rather than tough and chewy, making it an ideal pairing with the sweet, juicy oranges.

To ensure that they were evenly distributed in the salad, we cut the oranges into bite-size pieces and tossed the salad gently to keep the segments from falling apart.

To finish our salad, we added some oil-cured black olives, which added briny contrast, plus fresh mint, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Fennel, Orange and Olive Salad

Servings: 4-6. Start to finish: 25 minutes

2 blood oranges

1 fennel bulb, stalks discarded,

bulb halved, cored, and sliced thin

1/4 cup pitted brine-cured black olives, sliced thin

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh mint

2 teaspoons lemon juice

Salt and pepper

Cut away peel and pith from oranges. Quarter oranges, then slice crosswise into 1/2 -inch-thick pieces. Combine oranges and any accumulated juices, fennel, olives, oil, mint, and lemon juice in bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

Nutrition information per serving: 122 calories; 89 calories from fat; 13 g fat (2 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 0 mg cholesterol; 152 mg sodium;10 g carbohydrate; 2 g fiber; 6 g sugar; 1 g protein.