Incredible Refreshing Winter Salad

Already I received several requests from friends for Fennel Salad I made for x-mas dinner. I love this amazing salad - a light, crunchy, fruity and refreshing at this time of the year. They are seasonal ingredients available in our local market in Germany.  Also you can find Pomelo in Asia except for the Fennel bulbs which you may have to pay a fortune for them. I will experiment and try to find a substitute for Fennel bulbs and will let you know.

Fennel Salad with Pamelo and Citrus Dressing

For 4 serving

Ingredients for Salad

2 medium size Fennel bulbs

1/2 Red Onion, thinly Sliced

1 1/2 cups of Pomelo fruit - a citrus fruit look like giant grapefruit. It comes from South East Asia or Middle East. Grapefruit can be substitute if you cannot find Pamelo in your local market.

1 cup Pomegranate

Segments of 1 Organic Orange

Ingredients for Dressing

2 Tablespoon of fresh squeezed Organic Lime and Lemon juice – reduced the amount if you use Grapefruit instead of Pamelo

2 Tablespoon of fresh squeezed Orange juice

1 Tablespoon shredded of Organic Orange zest

1 Tablespoon of shredded Organic Lemon and Lime zest

2 Tablespoon of Walnut Oil or ground nut oil or any light Salad Oil

1 tablespoon of chopped Flat Leaves Parsley

Sea Salt

Freshly ground Pepper

Chili or Cayenne Pepper to taste (optional)

Instruction

1.        With hand slicer – shave Fennel Bulbs and Red Onion in a big salad bowl

2.       Peel and separate Pomelo fruit into bites pieces.  Add to the bowl with Fennel and Red Onion.

3.       Pomegranate,  Walnut Oil, Orange Zest, Lime Juice, Sea Salt, Freshly ground Pepper, Chili/Cayenne Pepper and chopped Parsley leaves

4.       Gently mix the salad with hand. That the Pomegranate and Pamelo fruits are not break and juice comes out.

5.        Taste and add salt, pepper, chili or lime juice according your desire flavor. Be sure the salad dressing flavor is to compliment Fennel, Pamelo and Pomegranate not too strong. Otherwise you will lose refreshing flavor of this salad combination.

6.       Top with  Orange Segments and serve

This refreshing Winter Salad is seasonal at end of the year. It is wonderful as starter before heavy meal or Seafood dishes.

Serving suggestions:

-          Top with simple grilled seafood or grilled boneless or skinless chicken breast as a nice lunch or light dinner

-          Serve between 2 main dishes if you plan many courses

-          Add shaved Parmesan cheese

Spontaneous Casserole

Jårg always says that I am the master of universe of cleaning out the refrigerator, using the rest of fresh and available ingredients to create a fantastic meal. He is just too kind and hungry ;-) Well, I usually do this when we are leaving for the trip. I stop buying fresh grocery and use up whatever there. We did not go shopping this time when we came back from Berlin. The trip was short just a week. I packed all fresh vegetables properly and froze whatever that had to. Last night we were hungry and too lazy to go out. I gather my fresh produce: organic carrot, fresh bulb of fennel, small potatoes, some grated Emmental cheese. I always have the most fun and become very creative in this situation. I like to eat good food. So I created a light but hearty casserole meal for the cold weather.

Potatoes, Carrots and Fennel in Cheese sauce with Spicy bread crumb topping. 
I turned on the oven for 200 C degree. I washed and sliced carrots and fennel bulb into ca ¾ cm thick and steamed them separately they need different time: carrots 8 mins and Fennel 4-5 min. Boiled potatoes in salted water for about 20 mins. Mixed about a cup of bread crump I have in the cupboard with spices: 1teaspoon each oregano, thyme, cayenne pepper, onion and garlic powder and 11/2 teaspoons of paprika and salt about ½ teaspoon of ground black pepper. Mix well and then add about 2-3 table spoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil - stir it until there is no crumb stick to the spoon and set aside. 
I make a cheese sauce using a Roux basic recipe – heat butter till brown add some flour mix well for 3-4 minutes the add milk cook it but not let it boil then add grated cheese slowly and stir well. The sauce should not be too thick I added a cube of vegetable bullion some freshly ground pepper and salt.

I drained the steamed vegetables and boiled potatoes. Cut potatoes in half. Layer the glass or ceramic casserole dish first with halved potatoes, cheese sauce, then vegetables, cheese sauce then sprinkle mixed bread crumb evenly on top and bake it for about 30 minutes or until the sauce is bubble and the topping is nicely brown and crispy. 

Personally I like casserole when the textures are combined – soft and crunchy or soft and chewy. Nice table red wine such Minervois made a perfect dinner last night and we still have left over for lunch today.