Raw vegan, gluten-free, serves 4 sides or 1 all day long :)
This is a VERY addicting salad that will definitely get you into the spring season spirit.
Until today, we in Central Florida have lately been spoiled with temperatures that are more like early summer than late February or early March! So this has been a wonderful light-weight but satisfying salad that I’ve been grazing off of during these warm days while getting my new garden started. It has a nice combo punch of crisp, cool, tangy, sweet, nutty, salty, and of course licorice-y. Did I mention that I have a full blown fennel addiction? I never buy celery anymore. For anything that calls for celery, I’m all in with fennel instead. Happily.
Textures – that is, the shape and size of the cuts of veggies matters. It really governs the flavor intensities and the entire flavor balance of a dish. In this salad, the fennel, green apple, and red onion are sliced mandoline thin. This keeps them from overpowering one another and creates a light, cool, crispness. I also prefer young, smaller fennel to larger bulbs. They’re much sweeter and milder.
First, thinly slice or use a mandoline:
1 medium sized fennel bulb, or 2 small bulbs
1/2 small Granny Smith apple
1/2 small red onion
Place into a bowl.
Coarsely chop:
1/2 cup of shelled pistachios and
a handful of fennel fronds and parsley
Finely mince:
1/2 of a seeded jalepeño or serrano pepper.
Add remaining ingredients to bowl. Finally, squeeze over the juice of a small lemon, drizzle lightly with extra virgin olive oil, and season to taste with a delicate sea salt (such as fleur de sel), and white pepper. Toss well and serve.
<3, JMK
