The Salad In Winter

After reading Regina Schrambling's L.A. Times piece on winter salads last week, I was inspired to make this fennel, green apple and watercress salad from A Voce. There are many wonderful things about this salad, most of all the lemon zest: it makes it so zingy and bright you'll forget it's winter (as if the 80 degree weather hasn't already done that.) I tweaked the salad and used arugula instead of watercress but that's just because I'm lazy and pre-washed arugula is more user-friendly that dirty, sandy watercress that you have to wash yourself. Don't skimp on the golden raisins, though, or the fresh Parmesan. I'm also proud of my restraint, here. I used the smallest amount of olive oil I could--usually I pour with a heavy hand--and it worked wonders. It's a winter salad for the ages.