Cooking with fresh local and seasonal ingredients becomes a celebration of the seasons every time we set to work in the kitchen. It really makes my heart and soul shine when a delicious meal comes together out of good ingredients to start with, and intention and love put forth into creating a nourishing meal.
With the return of beautiful plump pomegranates to the market this fall I was so happy to start juicing these wondrous super fruits once again and to add their bursting tangy seeds to like every salad I make in fall and winter. {can’t stop won’t stop}
Fennel Pomegranate Salad
This simple salad features bright and fresh fall flavors of crisp fennel with its notes of sweet anise, the tangy punch of pomegranate seeds, earthy rich walnuts, super sweet grapes, a mild bite from raw young sweet onions. A citrusy vinaigrette made with fresh tangerine juice lightly dresses this colorful salad without overpowering its flavors. This combo will be gracing our fall and winter table many times over. And I think it would be a perfect cleansing dish amongst all of the those heavier and heartier offerings on the Thanksgiving table.
Ingredients
- 1 head of lettuce or 6-8oz of mixed baby lettuces
- 1 large bulb of fennel with fronds (leafy tops)
- 2-3 young onions or a handful of scallions
- 1/4-1/3 cup pomegranate seeds
- 1/2 cup grapes
- 1/3 cup walnuts
- tangerine or orange zest
- red pepper flakes (pepperoncino flakes) to taste
- 1 tablespoon good mustard
- 3 tablespoons tangerine or orange juice
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Wash, dry and arrange lettuce on platter.
- Slice fennel rings into very thin rings and arrange them and some of fennel fronds (leafy parts) over lettuce. Very thinly slice onions or scallions and arrange into salad. Roughly chop walnuts and sprinkle over salad. Slice grapes in half and add to salad. Sprinkle pomegranate seeds over salad. Zest tangerine or orange over the salad. Sprinkle a pinch or pepperoncino flakes over salad.
- To make vinaigrette, add mustard, tangerine or orange juice, vinegar, oil, oregano and salt and pepper to a small mason jar, secure lid, wrap in a kitchen towel and shake until emulsified. Drizzle vinaigrette over salad when ready to eat and serve immediately. Enjoy!
Notes
Please note that exact amounts of the salad components (excluding the vinaigrette) are not necessary. You can add more or less of any component to serve a larger crowd for example.
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