Shaved Fennel & Blood Orange Salad
From The Kitchen · a prep-ahead staple
This is a Sicilian winter table in a single dish — nothing but fennel, blood orange, olive oil and lemon, and yet it feels like something. The fennel stays crisp and cool, the orange turns it sweet, and a few olives make it savory. I could eat it every night in January.
Ingredients
- 1 large fennel bulb, very thinly shaved (a mandoline is ideal)
- 2 to 3 blood oranges (or Sumo, Cara Cara, or navel), peeled and sliced into rounds
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- A handful of black olives (Kalamata or Taggiasca), optional
- A few fennel fronds, or fresh mint
- Flaky sea salt & pepper
Method
- Shave the fennel as thinly as you can — a mandoline is worth it here — and spread it over a platter.
- Peel the blood oranges, removing all the white pith, and slice into rounds. Arrange them over the fennel.
- Whisk the olive oil and lemon juice with a pinch of salt, and drizzle over the top.
- Scatter the olives and fennel fronds (or torn mint), finish with flaky salt and pepper, and serve.
Storage: Best just made; the fennel softens as it sits.
No blood oranges? They're a winter fruit (December–April). Out of season — or if you simply prefer them — a Sumo, Cara Cara, or navel orange is delicious here too: a little sweeter, a little less tart.
Gina's tip
Drop the shaved fennel into a bowl of ice water for ten minutes before you build the salad — it comes out impossibly crisp and curled.
Save the feathery fennel fronds — they taste of the whole bulb and make a beautiful, free garnish. Nothing on a fennel bulb needs to go to waste.
I hope this recipe finds a place in your kitchen as it has in mine. Enjoy!
— Gina