Fennel and orange salad
If there’s one thing that goes perfectly with a beautifully pan fried fish fillet, it’s fennel and orange salad. It is one of those salads I kept seeing on cookery shows but never tried – until this week. It’s now a firm favourite.
The flavours go extremely well together, and during these hot, sweaty, summer months… salad makes a lighter accompaniment to fish than potatoes. The orange-y freshness marries extremely well with the gentle aniseed of the fennel bulb.
There are obviously going to be a million variations – but at the core of this dish are two main ingredients – yes the clue is in the name!
Do not make this salad until the last moment. It only takes a minute or two to prepare – so I did ours while the fish was cooking. But you know how quickly you chop and juice – so if you want to do it just before, that’s fine too.
Ingredients – serves 2 or 3 as a salad for a main meal
- 1 medium to large fennel bulb
- 2 large oranges
Method
- Remove any brown leaves from the fennel bulb
- Slice the white part into a bowl really finely – a mandolin is perfect for this, although a sharp knife will do. Or use a coarse grater. Some people just chop it. Up to you.
- Do not discard the green fern-like fronds
- Grate a small amount of orange peel. It’s only for decoration so you only need half a teaspoon or so. Be careful not to grate the pith (or as I called it as a child, “sexy peel”), because that is a little bitter.
- Now cut segments from that orange – try to make sure that they are segments only. No poeel or pith.
- Juice the other orange – get as much as you can out of it.
- Add the juice to the fennel and toss it well
- Toss in the orange segments too
- Arrange on plates if you like – or leave in the bowl for people to help themselves.
- Pull the fern fronds from their stalks and arrange on top. This is primarily for decor, but they do add a lovely hit of extra aniseed.
- Sprinkle the grated orange peel too
- Serve immediately with a beautifully pan fried fish fillet or two
Spain Buddy tips
Although we’ve suggested fish – this salad also goes really well with many other items too. Try…
- Grilled prawns
- Chicken
- Skewered pork
- Seared tuna
- Poached or seared salmon
Keep the flavours you mix it with gentle – ensuring that the salad is the main flavour of your dish. But the following flavours mix in really well with that salad too!
- Fresh mint
- Grated carrot
- Fresh garden peas
- A pinch or two of fennel seeds
- Flaked almonds (even better when toasted)
Enjoy!
Elle, along with Alan, is the owner of Spain Buddy and the busy web design business – Spain Web Design by Gandy-Draper.
Born a “Norverner”, she then spent most of her life “Dann Saff” before moving to Spain in 2006. Elle’s loves are Alan, the internet, dogs, good food, and dry white wine – although not necessarily in that order.
