Sunshine on a plate -- a recipe to brighten the winter gloom

Last week while on my gym's treadmill I caught the Food Network's Nigella Lawson making a salad with peak-of-season grapefruit and orange along with another ingredient dear to my heart, fresh fennel (also in season). I rushed home and whipped up my own version, with only a couple of variations on Ms. Lawson's salad. (I added sugar and lime juice to the dressing, for instance, and increased the proportion of grapefruit to orange.)

We had it with grilled salmon and a green vegetable. It also would be nice over lettuce, perhaps sprinkled with a little blue cheese, for lunch.

Recipe: Citrus Salad with Fennel and Walnuts
(Serves 2-3; can be doubled)

Ingredients:
For the salad:
1 large orange, peeled (no white pith remaining) and sectioned
1 large or two small grapefruits, prepared the same as the orange
1/2 fennel bulb, stalks and outer layer discarded, cut into thin slices
1/3 cup toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped

For the dressing:
Juice from the orange and grapefruit (drain off as much as you can from the sections, and squeeze the remaining fruit well after you have sectioned them)
1 bunch fresh basil, chopped coarsely (about 1/4 to 1/3 cup when chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup olive oil, or a mixture of olive and walnut oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Instructions:

1. For the salad: Combine orange, grapefruit and fennel in a bowl. Stir well. Drain off as much juice as possible to add to the dressing. Stir in walnuts and set aside.
2. For the dressing: Put all ingredients except oil(s) in a food processor and pulse until basil is chopped. Add oil slowly with processor running. The dressing will be thin, not creamy.
3. Pour dressing over salad and stir well. Serve!