Orange – Fennel salad with walnut-dill dressing

Fennel and oranges go together like peas and carrots! Add walnut and dill and they REALLY sing!

A quaint Italian place named Terelli’s inspired the walnut-dill dressing. Sadly, they don’t make it anymore. This is SO good!

Want creamy? Simply blend the dressing! Either way, you have to try this!

Snap Pea Sheep

Orange - Fennel salad with Walnut - dill dressing

The dressing MAKES this salad very special. I use orange juice and umeboshi plum vinegar as the base for the dressing. It' a special treat!

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Course: Lunch, Salad

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 1 Fennel bulb
• 1/2 Head romaine lettuce
• 1 Cup Arugula
• 2 Oranges
• 4 Radishes
• 1 Baby (or English) cucumber
• 1/4 Sweet or red onion
• 1/2 Cup Walnuts

Walnut - Dill dressing

• 8 Walnut halves
• 4 Tbsp Fresh orange juice I use the juice from the oranges I segment
• 3 Tbsp Umeboshi Plum Vinegar
• 1/4 Shallot
• 4 Stems Fresh dill
• 1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder

Method

 

1. Chop the lettuce and arugula. Place in salad spinner to rinse and dry.
2. Thinly slice the radishes, onion and baby cucumbers
3. Trim the fennel and slice very fine. Some fennel bulbs are larger than others so aim for 1/2 cup of finely sliced fennel.
4. Peel the oranges. Slice into the orange to remove the segments from the membrane. Do this over a bowl so you capture any just. This technique is called supreme.
5. Add the walnuts and toss the salad.

Walnut - Dill Dressing

1. Wash dill and remove the stems. Chop fine. Add to salad dressing carafe.
2. Add additional orange juice as needed to the orange juice captured when you supremed the oranges. Add to the salad dressing carafe.
3. Add the garlic powder and umeboshi plum vinegar to the carafe.
4. Finely chop the shallot and add it to the carafe.
5. Place the walnut halves in a baggie and use a rolling pin or potato masher to crush them. A canned item also works. Add finely crushed walnut to the carafe.

Notes

This is a Snap Pea Sheep recipe.

 

This is not a thick salad dressing but it is oil free. Personally I like it like this because it adds a texture to the salad. 

If you want a thicker dressing, you add a 1/4 tsp finely ground flax seed and allow it to thicken the liquid. You could also blend this dressing - with or without the flax to give it more of a thicker, creamy texture.

I recommend using fresh dill in this dressing as dried dill tends to be a little bitter and metallic tasting. If you do not have dill you can try rosemary or Italian seasoning.