I had a salad similar to this with my friend Amanda this week in a restaurant. We really liked it and thought it was a great idea, but thought the dressing needed a bit more oomph. Roasted fennel is a fantastic ingredient in a salad, it loses its liquoricey flavour and has a delicious delicate flavour and texture. I’ve also added a few extra ingredients to make it more tasty. This recipe has all the right components for our tastes plus there’s the crunchy and creamy thing going on which we love.

Recipe

Serves 2.

Ingredients:
2 fennel bulbs sliced fairly thinly
100g Feta
A lemon cut into wedges
Some baby salad leaves
A sprinkling of Sumac
A handful of pistachios
2 tablespoons of pomegranate seeds
3 tablespoons olive oil plus a bit more for roasting the fennel
2 teaspoons lime juice
2 tablespoons of pomegranate molasses
Salt and pepper to taste

How:
Preheat the oven to 200ºC and place the fennel slices in one layer on a baking tray.
Sprinkle with olive oil and a bit of salt and roast till starting to go golden and tender, about 10-15 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Make the salad dressing by whisking the three tablespoons of olive oil with the lime juice, pomegranate molasses and salt and pepper.
Arrange the fennel on a plate then pour the dressing over it. Then sprinkle on the pistachios, the pomegranate seeds, the salad leaves and then crumble the feta on top.
Finally sprinkle with the sumac and place the lemon wedges around the plate. Serve at room temperature.

Lastly, I have started to use lime juice instead of vinegar in some salad dressings as I find it kind of does the same job only I think it’s a bit healthier and has a gentler taste than vinegar and let’s not forget the vitamins too.