Sliced Fennel Salad Is So Good & Good For You
Fennel is one of my favorite ingredients to cook with and one of the most under-utilized vegetables around. See my post, Fennel & How to Use It to read more about fennel.
We served this simple salad with pan-fried salmon last week and will prepare it again to serve with more dishes in the future. It’s that easy.
Cut the Fennel Thin
My biggest mistake when preparing this dish was not to slice the fennel thin enough. I used a chef’s knife and was able to get it pretty thin but next time I’ll use my inexpensive mandolin or our food processor with a slicing blade. The thinner you can get it the more delicate the texture and it will be more flavorful.
Simple Fennel and Olive Salad Recipe
How to make a simple fennel and olive salad.
Ingredients
- 2 small fennel bulbs with fronds the leafy part, sliced as thin as you can
- ½ cup black Kalamata olives pitted and chopped
- 1 lemon slice in half
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
Prep the Ingredients
- If the Kalamata olives are not pitted, get to it and wish you purchased the pitted ones. Roughly chop the olives and reserve.
- Thinly slice the fennel bulbs. I think I explained the desired thinness adequately above in the introduction.
Put the Salad Together
- In a medium sized bowl ( I like to use my stainless steel mixing bowl but any old bowl will work) add the “thinly” sliced fennel, chopped olive and most of the chopped parsley. Reserve a little for garnishing.
- Add the feathery fennel fonds but reserve a few also for garnishing the plate.
- Squeeze the juice from both lemon halves over the salad and then drizzle the olive oil on top. Toss with a pair of kitchen tongs so all the ingredients are coated with the lemon and oil.
- Taste and season with salt and pepper and serve as a starter, with your main course or after your main course.
You might like this fennel tart recipe. A bit different. I’ve made it many times. Work well with fish, poultry or… by itself.
Perfect timing – I was just thinking about what to make tonight