We hosted the crew last night for a Provençal French dinner. Julian made a daube (beef stew). I made polenta and fennel salad. We also had cheese and assorted appetizers, including some tinned foie gras that we brought home from our trip.
The fennel salad is one I’ve made many times over the years. The key ingredients are fennel, orange sections, and pomegranate seeds. I left red onion out, as our friend who is allium-intolerant was coming. Green olives are also traditional.
You can buy pomegranate seeds pre-extracted in grocery stores, but it’s much cheaper to get them out of the fruit. Pomegranate juice will stain clothing. Several methods can be used to extract the seeds. Julian bought me this contraption a few years ago. It consists of a bowl a strainer, and a flexible silicone dome.
Halve the pomegranate and put one half, cut side down, on the strainer. Cover with the dome, and whack away with a spoon to extract the seeds. I prefer to use the smooth side of a meat tenderizing mallet. It’s faster, and gets out all manner of micro-aggressions. Feel free to sing a chorus of “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” while you’re whacking. Repeat with the other half of the pomegranate.
Now that you’ve liberated the seeds, it’s time to assemble the salad. For one bulb of fennel, add sections from one decent-sized orange and about half of the pomegranate seeds. I added about 9 green olives, pitted and chopped. The dressing is extra-virgin olive oil, a splash of red wine vinegar, and a squeeze of the orange membranes you just liberated the sections from to add a little juice to the bowl. Add a little salt and white pepper to taste and toss. Just before serving, stir in some of the feathery leaves from one or two of the fennel stalks.
We still have a little salad left for tonight’s dinner, luckily.
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