This is a great salad: it’s bright, refreshing and has a delicious mix of flavours and textures. Juicy, tart grapefruit is balanced by spicy radicchio, creamy avocado, hearts of palm and fragrant fennel. This salad is fantastic as side dish for a barbecue or makes a great light lunch with some chickpeas and a soft white cheese like manouri. I recently had a divine salad prepared by The Food Architect that mixed fennel and grapefruit and fell in love with the idea.
INGREDIENTS
1 fennel bulb, sliced into wedges roasted
1 fennel bulb, very thinly sliced
1 medium radicchio, finely chopped
1 small pink grapefruit, segmented
1 avocado, sliced
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
1 can hearts of palm, sliced
¼ cup fresh mint leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Dressing
¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons grapefruit juice
1 garlic clove, grated
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
Start by roasting the fennel. Preheat your oven to 200°C. Slice the fennel into wedges and season with olive oil, salt and pepper and spread evenly on a baking sheet. Roast for 25-35 minutes.
Prepare the dressing: In a small jar, mix the olive oil, lemon juice, grapefruit juice, garlic, and Dijon mustard. Shake the jar vigorously until well mixed. Season with salt and pepper.
Place the sliced fennel in a bowl with a little dressing. Set it aside for 10-15 minutes, allowing the fennel to soften a bit.
Arrange the fennel, roasted fennel, radicchio and grapefruit segments on a platter. Drizzle with a few spoons of the dressing. Top with avocado, hearts of palm, pine nuts and mint.
NOTES
If you cannot find heart of palm, artichokes also work here
This salad makes a real statement if you are entertaining! To prep it ahead of time, mix together the dressing, shave and roast the fennel, and slice the citrus up to a day in advance. Simply throw together the salad right before you’re ready to eat.
