Orange and fennel salad is a traditional recipe from Sicily and Puglia, but with Spanish origins. Fragrant, tasty, easy and quick to prepare, it allows you to mix fruit and vegetables together and make a typically winter side dish original and fresh.
Its sweet and salty taste is perfect for both daily meals and festive dishes, to lighten Christmas lunches and New Year’s Eve dinners.
It can be served as both a side dish and an appetizer.
SEASONALITY
#oranges – from November to June, depending on the variety
#fennel – available year-round except for the hottest summer months
RECIPES with oranges
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Healthy
- Seasonality: Winter, Spring
- Energy 84.44 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 6.44 (g) of which sugars 5.87 (g)
- Proteins 1.54 (g)
- Fat 5.70 (g) of which saturated 0.44 (g)of which unsaturated 0.64 (g)
- Fibers 2.20 (g)
- Sodium 156.01 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 115 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Orange and Fennel Salad
Also great super light with only oranges and fennel dressed with oil and citrus juice.
- Half fennel
- 1 blonde orange (or red)
- 15 black olives (pitted)
- 4 walnuts (or other chopped nuts: peanuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios)
- 1 drizzle extra virgin olive oil
- to taste salt (and pepper or chili – optional)
Tools
- 1 Mandoline
Orange and Fennel Salad
How to peel oranges?
Wash the outside of the orange, remove both ends with a smooth-bladed knife, then remove the peel, making sure to also remove the white skin. Slice the peeled orange. Save the released juice to dress the salad.
Wash and clean the fennel, slice them with a mandoline.
In a bowl, place the fennel, oranges, olives, and chopped nuts.
Dress everything with the oil, optionally some salt and citrus juice, then mix.
Serve the orange and fennel salad immediately to preserve the beneficial properties of the orange.
VARIATIONS
Replace black olives with Taggiasca olives or slivers of dried tomatoes.
Flavor with lemon (or orange) juice or with balsamic vinegar.
Add sprigs of: fennel fronds, wild fennel, or dill tips.
Decorate with brine-cured pink or green pepper, or with pomegranate seeds.
Integrate with clementine wedges.
With raisins: soak raisins in orange juice.
With seeds: hemp, chia, sunflower, flax (ground), poppy, sesame, pumpkin.
With pine nuts: quickly toast them in a non-stick pan.
With onion or celery: add thin slices of white, red, shallot, spring onion, leek, or white/green celery.
With avocado: add avocado pieces and arugula.
With other fruit: add thin slices of pear, (green) apple, pomegranate seeds, or prunes (dried or fresh).
With lettuce: serve with strips of lettuce (iceberg) and use a Belgian endive leaf as a container.
With chocolate: add cacao nibs or dark chocolate flakes.
With fish: add filleted anchovies or marinated sardines, or pieces of tuna or smoked salmon.
Good pairing with shrimp and capers.
With cheese: add diced mozzarella, strands of stracciatella, or flakes of parmesan, parmigiano, or pecorino.
