2012-03-15

Orange Fennel Salad

No baby yet, but any day now!
I'm doing great for someone 39 weeks and 4 days preggo, with ankles as swelling-free as before baby.

I am still craving sweet foods like crazy, and citrus is one of the few things other than chocolate I really want to eat these days.


How perfect is it that our farm box had a half dozen oranges and a fennel (which, at least in seed form, is supposed to increase milk supply) bulb last week?

This is one of my favorite salads. It's easy to put together, looks glamorous, and keeps well for up to three days in the fridge as the fennel softens and the flavors marry.

You will need:
  • One fennel bulb with greens
  • Several navel oranges or similar variety
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Sea salt & fresh ground black pepper
  • A large bowl to serve salad
  • Additional salad leaves like butter lettuce of romaine if desired
  1. Peel off outer layer of fennel bulb, slice off the thick root end, and chop off greens an inch below their base. You want the cleaner, thinner inner part of the bulb for this salad.
  2. Chop and reserve a couple table spoons of the fennel greens.
  3. Cut the trimmed bulb in half from top to bottom, then very thinly slice against the grain into half moons, you want the fennel as close to paper-thin as possible. Lay your slices of fennel in the large bowl. Keep in mind that you'll want about equal portions of fennel and orange, give or take depending on your own taste.
  4. Peel and halve oranges, then thinly slice them into half moons as you did with the fennel, only orange slices should be about 1/4 inch thick. I recommend using a flexible plastic cutting board to you can poor the orange juice into the salad bowl as it pools.
  5. Once you have your orange and fennel in the bowl, drizzle with a 1/2 teaspoon or so extra virgin olive oil per cup of salad, sprinkle lightly with sea salt, chopped fennel greens, and ground pepper.
  6. Gently toss salad to mix ingredients, the olive oil and orange juice mix to create the dressing.
  7. Either serve as is, or lay atop a bed of torn romaine or butter lettuce leaves.
Alternately, you can lay round (instead of half-moon) fennel and orange slices on a platter and drizzle them with the olive oil and juice, much as you would a caprese salad.

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