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A Good Dish

making food simpler

A Sweet, Crunchy Alternative To A Routine Tossed Salad–Fennel With Pear & Walnuts

November 11, 2020

Fennel salad with pear and walnuts
Porcelain bowl by The Bright Angle

Fennel fronds, as we recently discovered, make a wonderful pesto. Did you wonder what I did with the fennel bulbs I had left after trimming all the fronds? I like sautéed and roasted fennel but since fresh local lettuce is harder to find as the days get shorter, I decided to use the fennel for salad.

My usual fennel salad is a toss of many vegetables. It is reliable and keeps well for several days. This week I didn’t have a lot of vegetables in my fridge but I did have a bag of lovely Bosc pears. I added some celery and walnuts and tossed the whole thing with a balsamic vinaigrette. It was so good that my husband and I couldn’t stop eating it! Fortunately, with two bulbs of fennel in the mix, even our enthusiastic chow down left us enough for another meal.

Pear and walnuts
complement the fennel

Fennel is actually quite nutritious, full of fiber and potassium (to balance sodium). It has a good crunch and can keep well in the fridge for almost a week until you find time to use it. It might even taste better on the second day. I kept the ingredients pretty basic but you could tart it up with some orange segments or chopped apple instead of pear or toss in some dried cranberries or raisins. Add Parmesan or some variety of blue or goat cheese to make a whole meal out of this salad if you like, but it is pretty good all on its own.

Fennel salad
Porcelain bowl by The Bright Angle

REALLY EASY FENNEL SALAD

Combine in a large bowl:

  • 2 bulbs of fresh fennel, quartered lengthwise, cored and thinly sliced
  • 1 cup raw or lightly toasted walnut pieces
  • 2 pears, preferably Bosc, cored, quartered and thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cup chopped parsley

Mix together:

  • 3 TBs balsamic vinegar
  • 3 TBs olive oil
  • Big pinch each of salt and pepper

Pour dressing over vegetables, toss and serve.

This salad will keep refrigerated for 3 or 4 days.

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Filed Under: Recipes, Salads, Uncategorized, Vegetables

Comments

  1. dlewis says

    November 11, 2020 at 2:30 pm

    Thanks for another great idea, love it!

    • A Good Dish says

      November 11, 2020 at 8:30 pm

      This is such a great backup salad, when you need something quickly and you have no lettuce.

  2. Cotter says

    November 11, 2020 at 5:32 pm

    So clever and so delicious thank you as always for making healthy dishes so interesting and readily available!

    • A Good Dish says

      November 11, 2020 at 8:31 pm

      If we have to cook, it might as well be easy and delicious, right?

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Welcome to A Good Dish

Here you will find recipes and ideas for easy to make and tasty meals, sources for interesting dinnerware on which to serve those meals and resources for ingredients, classes and food related travel. My goal is to make daily cooking simpler and to inspire you to try different recipes beyond the handful you already make repeatedly. I hope that relaying my experiences will enhance yours. Follow along and let me know about your own cooking and food journeys.

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