Simple Fano Salad

On a glorious sunny April Saturday, my sister Lisa, our friend Gina, and I ventured out to explore a little neighboring city called Fano.

Fano sits at the Adriatic Sea, and it was our first time visiting this coast! It was Market Day, and after we lazily pilfered through stalls selling things we neither wanted nor needed, we found a few fresh food stalls.

Fresh Mercato Stalls, Fano

I was thrilled to buy organic chickpea flour, handmade fruit-and-nut bread, fresh rosemary, and gorgeous leafy greens.

We’d learned that it was a thing ;) to walk the promenade and eat fish for lunch, so we did just that. Before our amazing seafood pastas, we enjoyed this delicious salad.

Its four basic ingredients are arugula, fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, and pitted black olives. It is simply dressed only with vinegar, oil, salt and pepper. With a favorite crusty bread on the side, it could be a light main dish that’s perfect for spring lunch or dinner.

I found this yummy plate surely worthy of re-creating at home a few days after our sojourn to Fano. I hope you’ll agree that it’s a keeper, and it’s also excellent practice for creating a masterpiece without measuring anything!

Simple Fano Salad, for 2

2 generous handfuls of fresh arugula

A bit of shredded radicchio (optional; I had this handy so it got thrown in)

6-8 ripe cherry tomatoes

6-8 tiny fresh mozzarella balls (or, just cube a small fresh mozzarella ball)

Handful of pitted black olives

White wine vinegar

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Extra-virgin olive oil

Place arugula (and radicchio), tomatoes, mozzarella, and olives in large salad bowl, toss with clean hands or tool. Drizzle salad as you wish with vinegar, add salt and pepper as you’d like, and toss salad again. Finish with desired amount of olive oil drizzled over salad, and toss again. Taste a bite and adjust flavor with any dressing ingredients as desired. Serve immediately in salad bowls.  Yields 2 servings.