Simple is always best, especially when cooking with fine, clean ingredients. This version of a delicate but simple fennel and chicory salad is beautiful, simple and uncomplicated. Simple fennel chicory salad goes with pretty much anything Mediterranean cuisine.
The big secret of this salad is that the fennel is sliced, or rather shaved, into super thin slices. If, like me, you own a mandolin (vegetable slicer), this fennel salad is absolutely a reason to get it out of the closet. If not, use the sharpest knife you have and slowly and with concentration cut into the finest strips you can manage.
When shopping, look for small young fennel bulbs. There are two reasons for this: First, you may not want to waste food if you have to cut out the solid stalk, and the younger, smaller fennel bulbs are just much more tender and easier to digest in a salad.
To use the tangerine as a dressing ingredient, the salad needs to have bitter leaves to balance the sweetness. Fennel and chicory are perfect as their firmness isn’t overwhelmed by the heavy dressing that could be a failure of a flabby leaf. Although I love tangerines in the winter, I make variations of this salad year-round. Simple fennel chicory salad pairs beautifully with roasts, pasta and when summer season comes around I’ll probably be making huge bowls for our summer cookouts.
I can’t stress enough that you should take the time to slice the veggies. To make the fennel, chicory and shallots as thin as possible, use a mandoline. I can get a bit cocky in the kitchen, but it’s important not to make the raw fennel and chicory inedible and a pain to eat. Eating the salad should be a joy.
For most quick and easy salads, I prefer to dress them just before serving, but for this salad, consider combining the ingredients with the salad dressing about half an hour before serving so the dressing can tenderize the veggies.
if you like our vegan and simple fennel chicory salad, you might also be interested in these dishes:
- Beetroot fennel salad
- vegan mediterranean chickpea salad
- quick white bean salad
- quick and easy homemade coleslaw
- Beetroot Chickpea Salad
- vegan tomato and bean salad with fresh peach
Fennel chicory salad with tangerine vinaigrette
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 fennel bulb small or 1 large
- 2 Chicory
- 1 shallots
- 2 el native olive oil*
- 1 el white wine vinegar
- juice of a tangerine
- 1 el agave syrup*
- kosher salt*
- Pepper* from the mill
- pistachios
- dried barberries* or cranberries
Instructions
- Cut or slice the fennel into wafer-thin slices. Reserve the fennel greens.
- Clean the chicory and cut into fine strips.
- Peel the shallot and also very finely slice or slice.
- Mix the salad sauce from the olive oil, white wine vinegar, agave syrup and tangerine juice.
- Marinate the chopped vegetables with the salad dressing and season with freshly ground salt and pepper.
- Serve the salad sprinkled with pistachios, barberries and chopped fennel greens.
Nutrition
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