Warm fennel salad with arugula and dried tomatoes

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 1 large fennel
• 60 g arugula
• 100 g tomatoes, dried in oil
• some garlic
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, dark
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp mustard
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 25 g pine nuts
• 2 handfuls of croutons

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 15 minutes; Total time approx. 45 minutes

Wash the fennel and cut into not too thick strips. Drain the pickled tomatoes and pour the oil from the jar into a cast iron pan. Dice the tomatoes. Wash and drain the arugula. Finely dice a thin slice of garlic. In a bowl, mix a marinade of balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, mustard, and olive oil. Heat the oil from the tomatoes (or olive oil) and fry the fennel for a few minutes until it begins to brown slightly. Reduce the heat, add the garlic and sun-dried tomato cubes to the pan, and let them simmer briefly. Add the vegetables to the bowl with the dressing, mix, and let it marinate. Meanwhile, in the same pan, toast the pine nuts, taking care not to overheat them. Quickly fry the bread cubes to make croutons at the same time, if necessary, adding a little more olive oil. As an alternative to the croutons, you can also serve grissini, focaccia, ciabatta, or similar. When the pine nuts and croutons are ready, add the arugula to the fennel in the bowl and mix it in. Serve on plates and garnish with the pine nuts and croutons.