Fennel bulbs
By Cat, Aug 2017 (Photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)
We’re getting into apple season (late August-September here in NW Montana), and one of my fav ways to use fresh apples is in a salad. I grew up on Waldorf Salad, and have since added Endive and Apple Salad with Warm Goat Cheese for a winter apple salad treat. Sometimes I add apples to my Beet, Fennel & Orange Salad recipe. And now I find this recipe on Mercola’s recipe blog (1).
I became acquainted with the fennel bulb in the ’80s, from a Greek-style recipe in the Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas. I’ve since become enamored with this veggie, especially raw in salads such as this one.
See also: 1. Salads Menu; 2. Fennel (About), 3. Nuts (About), 4. Apple Cider Vinegar’s (About)
Apple, Fennel (Bulb) and Walnut Salad, with Apple Cider Vinaigrette
This recipe is adapted from one by Catherine Katz (from her blog, Cuisine City) on Mercola’s recipe blog (1).
See my post Apple Info (About) for a chart on best apples for salads, etc.. See also Fennel or Finnochio (About), Nuts (About), and Apple Cider Vinegar’s Many Health Benefits (About) for more about these ingredients.
I highly suggest soaking and drying the walnuts to improve their digestibility and nutrition. See Soaking, Sprouting Nuts & Seeds (a how-to for nuts and seeds) for more about this.
Serves 2 – 4 or more.
Ingredients & Equipment
- Salad:
- 1 large fennel bulb with optional fronds
- 1 green apple (such as Granny Smith)
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts, preferably soaked and dried
- Vinaigrette:
- ¼ tsp Dijon mustard
- 3 Tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
- 3 Tbsp Organic extra virgin olive oil
- ⅛ tsp fine-grind unrefined sea salt (use more if medium or coarse grind)
- Equipment:
- Bowl for presoaking walnuts (optional)
- Medium salad bowl
- whisk
Method
- Day ahead (optional): Presoak, then dry the chopped walnuts (or whole walnuts, then chop coarsely after drying).
- Salad:
- Wash and rinse fennel bulb and apple (skin-on). Slice fennel (white and light-green parts), thinly. Grate apple coarsely. If you didn’t presoak the walnuts, chop them coarsely.
- Briskly whisk together vinaigrette ingredients in salad bowl, then add prepped fennel, apple and walnuts and toss to coat well.
- Optional: chop some of the fennel fronds and scatter over the salad.
References
- Apple, Fennel (Bulb) and Walnut Salad, with Apple Cider Vinaigrette (Mercola), originally by Catherine Katz.
