When a new year rolls around, it’s time for a break from heavy holiday eating. Add this clean, wintery salad to it to your New Years menu. This salad is cozy without all the calories. The apples and ginger carry a little holiday sparkle over into January, while the licorice-like fennel is perfect for a snowy Memphis day—hoping we get one!

(serves 4-6)

Ingredients

  • 1 lb shrimp – peeled and deveined with tails on
  • 2 fennel stalks
  • 2 Fuji apples 
  • 6 cups arugula
  • 1 lemon
  • 2 Tbsps fresh ginger – grated
  • 1 tsp garlic – minced
  • 2 Tbsps honey or agave
  • 1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • Kosher salt
  • Pepper

Directions: 

1. Heat oven to 400F. Toss shrimp with 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. Roast shrimp on a baking sheet for 8-10 minutes or until they just turn pink.

2. Thinly slice the bulb (bottom white part) of the fennel stalk. Cut about 1/4 cup of the fronds (herby green part) from the fennel and chop roughly. Core apples and cut into quarters. Make thin slices using a mandolin, or slice them as thinly as possible with a knife.

3. In a salad bowl, toss the apple slices with the juice of half a lemon to keep the apple from browning. Add the fennel and arugula and toss together.

4. Prepare the dressing in a small bowl. Add juice from the other half of the lemon, ginger, garlic, honey, and a dash of salt and pepper. Drizzle in 1/4 cup olive oil while whisking to combine. Taste and add more salt if needed.

5. Toss the dressing together with the salad. Top with shrimp.

Andrea LeTard is a personal chef, cooking instructor, and creator of Andrea’s Cooktales, a recipe website and video series where there’s a story behind every recipe. Her recipes are what she calls “next-generation southern” – fun and fundamentally southern with a modern twist using fine, fresh, and unexpected ingredients. She is a regular contributor on Local Memphis Live, her recipes have been featured on The Today Show, and she was chosen as a Top 100 contestant on MasterChef Season 6. Follow Andrea on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or read her blog and watch her video series at www.andreascooktales.com.