Fennel, Blood Orange and Olive Salad
Crisp aniseed fennel, sweet-sharp blood orange, salty black olives and good oil — a bright, three-bite Sicilian-style salad that looks like a sunset and takes five minutes.
This is winter sunshine on a plate, and a perfect lesson in balance: sweet orange, salty olive, anise fennel, bitter oil. Each one needs the others.
What you need
1 fennel bulb, shaved paper-thin; 2 blood oranges, peeled and sliced into rounds; a handful of good black olives (a winey Kalamata or soft Gaeta); thinly sliced red onion; and a dressing of nothing more than good extra virgin olive oil, a squeeze of the orange, salt and pepper. A few fennel fronds and mint to finish.
Method
Lay the orange rounds on a plate, scatter the shaved fennel, onion and olives over, drizzle generously with oil and a little orange juice, and season. That’s the whole thing. No lettuce, no fuss.
Two small things make it. Shave the fennel as thinly as you can — a mandoline or a steady hand — because thick fennel is woody and aggressive, while paper-thin fennel is crisp and delicate. And dress it with the juice of the orange rather than vinegar or lemon: it keeps the salad sweet-sharp and seamless. The olives are doing the salt and the depth, so a fierce, peppery oil is welcome here — it’s the bitter note that ties sweet and salty together.