I love combining fennel with fruit. This time, I combined it with strawberries and apple for this fruity, refreshing salad. Do buy the strawberries and apple organic if you can; both strawberries and apples always make it to dirty dozen list of foods with the highest amounts of pesticide residue (http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/dirty-dozen-foods#fbIndex1).
STRAWFENNY
1 small fennel bulb OR half of a large bulb
15 strawberries
1 small, sweet apple
large handful of unshelled hazelnuts
extra virgin olive oil
freshly squeezed lemon juice
sea salt
chilli powder
1. Mix some freshly squeezed lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and a pinch of chilli powder, and let the salad sauce stand while you are preparing the salad.
2. Wash and trim the fennel bulb, cut it in half and slice it as thinly as you can.
3. Wash the apple and cut it into small pieces.
4. Wash and trim the strawberries, and cut them in half.
5. Shell the hazelnuts and cut them in half (unless they are very small).
6. Mix the fennel, the strawberries, the apple and the hazelnuts well, and serve with the salad sauce.
Annika
I felt like cooking something a bit different today, and got the idea of making a salad using asparagus and strawberries. It looks like lots of other people beat me to it, though; the internet seems to be full of asparagus strawberry salad recipes. Anyway, this is my version of the salad. The idea of the spicy strawberry sauce, which gives the salad a great punch, is mine.
STRAWBERRY SWING
Salad:
160 grams strawberries (~2/3 of a 250-gram
package)
300 grams asparagus
12 large walnuts
leek
sea salt
Sauce:
90 grams strawberries (~1/3 of a 250-gram
package)
half of a large, juicy lemon
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoons chilli powder
sea salt
Preparing the salad:
1. Wash the asparagus spears, cut off the
woody bits, and cut the rest of the spears into 3-cm-long pieces. Divide the
pieces into three groups: the ones that come from the bottom (the hardest),
middle and top (the softest) of the spears.
2. Put a tiny bit of water and some sea salt
on the bottom of a pot, and bring to the boil.
3. Add the asparagus pieces into the pot in
three stages, starting from the harder bottom bits. Let them steam under a lid until
tender. Mix the asparagus pieces a few times so that all of them will get salted.
4. Pour the water out of the pot, and let the asparagus cool down completely.
5. Shell the walnuts and break them into
smaller pieces.
6. Heat a frying pan over medium heat, add the
walnuts into the hot pan and stir frequently, until the walnuts start to brown
and smell toasted (~5 min).
7. Let the walnuts cool down completely.
8. Wash and trim the strawberries, and cut
them in half (or in more pieces in case they are quite big).
9. Wash the leek, cut very thin slices of the
white part, and cut those in half. The leek I had was really thin, and I used
about 4 cm of it for the recipe.
10. Mix all the ingredients in a salad bowl
and put the bowl in the fridge.
Preparing the sauce:
1. Squeeze the juice of the lemon (about 3
tablespoons) into a small bowl.
2. Add the olive oil.
3. Add the chilli powder and a pinch of sea
salt.
4. Add the strawberries and blend until
smooth.
5. Let the sauce stand for about 10 minutes before serving it with the salad.
Annika
