At a glance
A side for four
EasyOne pan, no technique to learn first.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- None
- Total
- 15 min
- Serves
- 4
Raw fennel divides people, and almost every conversion I have managed came down to thickness. Cut into wedges it is aggressive, fibrous, and unmistakably of aniseed. Shaved to a millimetre it is delicate, faintly sweet, and mostly a texture.
The rest of the dish is a lesson in not wasting anything: the juice that runs out while you segment the oranges is the dressing, and it is better than anything you would have built from a bottle.
The mandoline argument
A mandoline gets you consistent, translucent slices in ninety seconds and is worth owning for this alone. A sharp knife will do it, but “as thin as you can” with a knife usually means two or three millimetres, and that is a different salad.
If you are using a knife, halve the bulb through the root first so you have a flat face to stabilise it, and slice across the grain.
Iced water
Fennel is mostly water in rigid cells. Sliced thin, those cells lose turgor within minutes and the slices go limp. Ten minutes in iced water reverses it — the cells take water back up by osmosis and the slices curl and stiffen.
Then they have to be dried, thoroughly, in a towel or a spinner. Wet fennel dilutes the dressing and it will pool in the bottom of the bowl.
Honey against the fennel
A teaspoon is not there to sweeten the salad. It is there because fennel’s anise note reads as slightly bitter, and a small amount of sugar rounds that off without making the dressing taste sweet. Leave it out and the whole thing is sharper and less friendly.
Where it goes
Beside anything rich. It is the correct thing next to the roast chicken, and it cuts through the short ribs better than any green salad would.
Ingredients
Method
4 steps
Shave it as thin as you dare
Trim the fennel, halve it through the root, and slice it across as thinly as you can manage — a millimetre or less. Drop the slices into iced water for ten minutes while you do the rest; they will curl and go crisp.
Segment over a bowl
Cut the top and bottom off the oranges, stand them up, and cut the peel away in strips. Then cut the segments out over a bowl so you catch the juice. That juice is the dressing base.
Whisk what you caught
Add the lemon juice, oil, honey, and a good pinch of salt to the collected orange juice and whisk it. Taste it — it should be sharper than you want, because the fennel will soften it.
Dress at the last moment
Drain and dry the fennel thoroughly, then toss it with the dressing, the segments, and the mint. Pistachios and pepper over the top, fronds scattered, and out to the table within five minutes.
Cook's notes
- Iced water is what makes shaved fennel snap rather than flop. Ten minutes is enough, and it has to be dried properly afterwards or the dressing slides off.
- Tear the mint. A knife bruises it and it goes black within minutes.
- Grapefruit instead of orange makes a sharper, more adult version. Add a little more honey.
- You will need
- A mandoline, or a very sharp knife and patience
- Keeps
- An hour, at most. Cut the fennel ahead and hold it in water, but dress it only when you sit down.
