‘What are those bulb things you are slicing? You’ve never seen fennel? It looks like celery and tastes like licorice’.
Fennel is used as palate cleanser in Italy. It has a sweet mildly aniseed taste that is more interesting to me than celery. I like both to be honest, as does Mr and Baby B. Anything cooling that we can get a satisfying crunch out of. This salad is lovely in both winter and summer. I served it alongside other salads for a BBQ.
Fennel has a great vitamin profile, with a good amount of vitamin C and the mineral manganese. It even has a little calcium, iron, and potassium.
This recipe is super simple and adds a little flair to your meal. It is taken from the recipe book, Green Fire.
Ingredients
- 3 fennel bulbs
- EVOO
- 1 lemon
- Fresh Mint
- Sea Salt
Method
- Trim the fennel bulbs, discard the stalks (or keep them for stock) and any tough core and cut them in half-length ways. Slice them as thinly as possible.
- Place the fennel in a bowl and drizzle on some EVOO.
- Grate the lemon zest over the bowl and squeeze half a lemon over the top (this will also keep it from browning)
- Add the mint leaves and salt. Toss gently before serving.
- Best to put this together just before serving as the salt will draw a little water out if you leave it too long.
