This Fennel Orange Salad is a traditional Sicilian dish and a perfect palate-cleansing course after a heavy winter meal. I suppose the olives and mint are optional, but for the life of me I can't imagine why you'd leave either of them out.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients:
- 2 heads fennel
- 2 oranges
- 1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 24 oil-cured black olives
- 6 large mint leaves
- Salt to taste, if you like
Preparation:
- Trim fennel, halve the bulbs, lay each half flat on a cutting surface, and slice crosswise as thinly as possible (you can also use a mandoline for this task). Lay fennel slices on a single large platter or 4 to 6 individual salad plates.
- Section the oranges over a medium bowl. Squeeze out any juice from the remaining membrane into the bowl as well. Lay the sections over the fennel and sprinkle salad(s) with the juice.
- Drizzle salad(s) with the olive oil
- Smash the olive with the flat of a large knife blade. Remove pits and halve or roughly chop the olives and sprinkle them over the salad(s).
- Lay mint leaves in a stack and cut into ribbon-like shreds. Sprinkle over salad(s).
- Sprinkle salad(s) with salt, if you like, and serve immediately.
