Shaved Fennel & Orange Salad
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 0 minutes
Serves: 4 as a side
-
2 oranges
-
1/3 cup/80ml/3flozs extra virgin olive oil
- 4 teaspoons honey
- 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- 1 fennel bulb (around 500g/1.1lbs)
Step 1 - First segment the oranges. Slice the tops and bottoms off an orange. Take a sharp knife and slice the peel off along the orange from top to bottom following the white pith as a gauge to see how deep to cut. Do this around the whole orange (reserve the peels with the flesh on them) and then remove any white pith that remains on the orange. Take the whole orange in one hand and cut out the segments - you can easily see the dividing lines. Set aside.
Step 2 - Then make the dressing. Fennel doesn't brown as quickly as other vegetables or fruit but it will discolour eventually so it's easiest to make the dressing before shaving the fennel. Place the olive oil, honey, mustard and minced garlic in a small bowl. The orange peels will still have some orange flesh on them so squeeze the juice from them into the dressing and then whisk the dressing together to create a smooth, orange dressing. If you're a whiz at segmenting oranges (you can see I'm not haha) and don't have any flesh left on the skin then add 1/3 cup/30ml/4flozs of orange juice.
Step 3 - Remove the fronds and stalks off the fennel bulb (the stalks are great in soups or as a trivet for a roast) and then peel the outside of the bulb with a vegetable peeler. Cut the fennel bulb in quarters and remove the triangular core. Mandolin the fennel into a bowl on the thinnest setting. Then toss gently with the dressing and orange segments. Season with salt and pepper. If you have the fennel fronds you can add some of these or some chopped parsley.