Apple and fennel salad with blood oranges, feta, mint chiffonade and honeyed walnuts
Confession: I've never bought nor cooked with blood oranges. I don't even know if I've eaten one, except I had a blood orange vodka once, but that's another story. I always wondered, "Are they really that different from other oranges"? The answer is, of course, yes. And what a difference! In my experimenting, I found that I really liked the combination of these 5 flavors: apple, fennel, blood oranges, feta cheese and mint. I first tried a simple saute. It was good, but needed some 'punching up' of the flavor. The blood orange became too muted from the heat, and the flavors all went together a little too well with nothing really standing out. So I tried a salad and found what I was looking for. It's a simple composed salad with each flavor really standing out individually but also playing together quite well - especially the blood orange. I used a small mandolin slicer to thinly slice the fennel, apple and red onion. The walnuts are optional, and I didn't do it for mine due to my allergy to nuts, but others loved the addition.
Comments