Serves: 4 as an accompaniment
This versatile salad works well in both winter and summer and is a great match for fish or chicken. A lot of people claim not to like raw fennel but I have found they can be persuaded when it is very finely sliced and coated in a zippy dressing. A yuzu is a citrus fruit originating in Far-East Asia. It is very hard to find over here in its fruit form but luckily you can buy the bottled juice from good supermarkets or online. For extra bite I like to throw in a handful of the savoury seeds (see Larder section) but toasted walnuts or pecans would work well too.
Ingredients
- For the dressing
- 1 tablespoon yuzu juice
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 4 tablespoons light olive oil
- For the salad
- 2 fat heads fennel, trimmed
- 2 large oranges
- 85g bag watercress
- A handful of savoury seeds (optional)
Method
- For the dressing, put the yuzu juice, Dijon mustard and a pinch of salt and some ground black pepper in a small jar. Screw on the lid and shake. Add the oil, make sure the lid is on tightly and shake vigorously until the dressing has amalgamated. Set aside.
- Finely slice the fennel, preferably on a mandolin to get the thinnest strips. Place in a salad bowl. Cut the top and bottom off each orange. Stand on a chopping board and carefully cut down the sides to remove the skin and as much white pith as possible. Finely slice the peeled oranges and add to the fennel. Season with salt and ground black pepper. Just before serving add the watercress and drizzle over 2-3 tablespoons of the dressing. Mix well then scatter over the seeds if using. Serve immediately.
- You can prepare the dressing, fennel and oranges well in advance and simply add the watercress at the last minute.
