We don’t often cook with fennel in our kitchen; Robbie says he doesn’t care for what he describes as the licorice flavor. Thanks to John for growing fennel for our Ranui Gardens CSA boxes because I am having fun playing and spicing up Robbie’s palate. This fennel has a broad bulbous base. I prefer to slice it very thinly and serve it raw. 
Spice it with these pickled red onions to get anyone to say, “What is this—it’s good?”
I was browsing my borrowed copy of “The Conscious Cook” and got the idea for pairing fennel with the onions. This is an adaptation of author Tal Ronnen’s recipe.
Fennel, Orange and Pickled Onion Salad
Pickled onions:
1 red onion
1 cup white wine vinegar
¼ cup sugar or honey
1 bay leaf
1 (1-inch) knob fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds
4 sprigs fresh thyme (optional)
Salad assembly:
1 fennel bulb, trimmed
1 orange
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon Real Salt
Pinch cayenne pepper
Lettuce greens, torn into bite-size pieces, as needed
To pickle the onions:
Cut the onion in half. Slice thinly, about 1/8-inch thick. Place in a bowl and pour boiling water to cover. Let sit 2 minutes; then drain off the water.
In a saucepan, put the white wine vinegar, sugar, bay leaf, sliced ginger, red pepper flakes, mustard seeds and thyme, if using. Heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Pour over the drained onion in a stainless steel or glass bowl. Cover and refrigerate, at least one hour.
To make and serve the salad:
Slice the fennel so it is about as thin as possible, using a mandolin if you have one. Peel the orange. Holding over a bowl, remove the segments. Add the orange segments to the fennel, saving the juice. Whisk together the orange juice, the vinegar, olive oil, salt and cayenne pepper to make a vinaigrette.
Sample the pickled onions and add as many as you wish to the fennel and orange—all or a portion, to your taste. Dress the fennel, orange and onions with the vinaigrette. Arrange the lettuce on plates. Divide the fennel mixture between the plates and drizzle with the remaining vinaigrette.
Makes 2 to 3 servings.
- Peel ginger by scraping with the back of a spoon—a spoon gets into the crevices between the branching knobs much easier than a paring knife.
- Pickled red onions make a great condiment with Mexican food.
Muffin Talk 