Apple Fennel Salad

I love the colors in this salad.

We are wrapping up our garden, there is not too much left in there at this point of the season. Although yesterday I went and pulled some of my fennel out, so I could make a salad with it. This is the first year that we have grown the stuff.

Actually when I think about it I really had not heard of fennel before I started this blog. Well maybe I had heard of fennel, because I know that Italian sausage has fennel seeds in it. But I don’t think I knew that there was a part of the fennel plant that you could eat.

Well back to the fennel in my garden. The bulbs did not get as big as they should have, but I know that was partially my fault. I had too many plants growing in a too small of an area, so the bulbs could not develop correctly.

So when I decided that I was going to try it I had to use a few bulbs instead of just one like the recipe suggested.

I decided to make a salad for my first time using fennel. I have read on a few blogs that fennel makes a tasty salad. And since I had other things in the oven I decided that roasting was not the way to go with it for the day.

To my surprise we enjoyed this salad. I was not sure about my guys, because they are quite fussy when it comes to their vegetable and greens. But they ate it and they did not complain, so that is a good thing.

I loved the apple in the recipe. Although the recipe called for a tart apple (Granny Smith) I decided to go with red delicious, since that is what I had at home. I like the sweetness of the apple in this salad, so when I make it again I think I will stick with the sweet apples instead of the tart ones.

The recipe called for the salad to be seasoned with salt and pepper, which I forgot to do. When I mentioned this to my guys they told me that they did not want to add any. I agreed with them, after tasting the salad I too thought it did not need the salt and pepper.

Apple Fennel Salad (Source: Slightly adapted from Purple Foodie)
Ingredients:
1 fennel bulb
1 red delicious apple
1 handful of greens
2 to 3 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese
2 to 3 tablespoons roasted walnuts
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Directions:
1. Cut the fennel bulb in half (vertically) Once you have it cut in half remove the hard core and throw it away.
2. After the core is removed place the cut bulb on a cutting board the cut side down. Slice the bulb into thin slices (as thin as possible) starting at the base.
3. Next cut the apple in half and remove the core. Slice the apple into thin slices.
4. Add the fennel, apples, the handful of greens, walnuts, and Parmesan cheese to a bowl, toss together.
5. In a small bowl whisk together the olive oil and lemon juice. Pour over the salad and toss.
6. You can garnish with additional walnuts and Parmesan cheese if desired.