Earl Makes Arugula Spinach Salad with Fennel, Bacon Chunks & Spanish Goat Cheese

Arugula Spinach Salad with Fennel, Bacon & Goat Cheese

We recently discovered a couple of additions to our homemade salads that really brighten the flavor and improve the crunch...arugula and fennel! Arugula has a nice bite to it, a bit like a radish, and fennel a hint of anise or licorice. Both add to the overall taste and texture of a homemade salad and are great additions.We like them so much that when I saw a Spinach & Arugula mix, I had to try it! Arugula is hard to find in the run-of-the-mill grocery stores for some reason, so I usually get mine at Trader Joe's. Finding this mix with arugula and spinach was a real departure for me because I usually don't buy mixes and almost never buy organic produce. We have both always loved spinach salads so I hoped the addition of arugula would make a great salad.

Trader Joe's Fennel Bulb

But an idea was formulating for a salad that had RAW fennel. It's texture is nice and crunchy, much like celery, but with that great hint of licorice. I have roasted it, but never had it raw in a dish until tonight. The fennel comes partially trimmed from Trader Joe's, all I had to do is cut it in half and slice the half lengthwise into salad size chunks. I should say bite size, because my wife (a.k.a. "Turkey"), thought my chunks were a bit big.

In addition to the arugula & spinach mix and the fennel bulb, I added grape tomatoes, halved, green onions (white & green portions), two kinds of cheese (Spanish goat cheese and blue cheese), my home-baked bacon chunks and my homemade croutons along with bottled dressing.Turkey decided against the cheeses, but liked the salad so much she took it to work for lunch the next day!