Fennel, Pomegranate & Granny Smith Salad

Published on August 20, 2015 | By |

- Prep Time
- 25 Minutes

Before this dish, I thought I did not like raw fennel, now I know better—it’s all about the thin slices. In addition to a festive presentation, this salad is also a digestive aid, and a great antidote to the heavier, richer foods of the holiday season.

It may be prepared several hours ahead of time and kept in the fridge. Don’t know how to deseed a pomegranate? No worries! Check out this short video – and then you’ll know.

The preparation is not as lengthy as the directions make it seem – I just wanted to give you very specific details on how to deal with the fennel and pomegranate so there was no guesswork.

Ingredients

1 lemon
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons brown rice, white balsamic or champagne vinegar
2 teaspoons honey
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 large fennel bulb (or 2 small)
1 seedless (English) cucumber
1 Granny Smith apple, halved, cored and very thinly sliced
Seeds from 1 pomegranate

Instructions

1. From lemon, grate 1 teaspoon zest and squeeze 2 tablespoons of juice. In a jar or container with a tight fitting lid, combine oil, vinegar, lemon zest and juice, honey and salt. Shake well. Taste and adjust seasonings to keep your palate happy. Dressing can be refrigerated up to 3 days.
2. Pluck 2 tablespoons or so of fennel fronds from fennel tops and reserve for garnish. Trim away the dark green stalks and a 1/4" of the root end - discard. If the bulb is brown or bruised in areas, simply use a peeler to peel away those areas. Cut the fennel bulb into quarters lengthwise. Remove the core from each section. Slice each section of fennel bulb crosswise very thinly. (This might be the time to break out the mandolin if you have one.)
3. With a vegetable peeler, peel alternating strips from cucumber skin. Cut it in half lengthwise, then thinly slice cucumber cross-wise at an angle.
4. To remove seeds from the pomegranate: first use a paring knife to score the skin - as if you were dividing the fruit into quarters. Next fill a large bowl with water. The bowl should be large enough so that you can submerge the pomegranate and both of your hands completely under the water. Immerse the pomegranate under the water and break it apart with your hands. The seeds will fall to the bottom and the skin and white inner membranes surrounding the seeds will float to the top. After the seeds are completely separated from the skin and white membranes, tip the bowl of water so that the pieces of skin and white membranes pour out of the bowl then fill it with more water. After pouring off any of the remaining skin and white pithy pieces, drain the seeds in a colander.
5. On a large serving platter, layer fennel, cucumber and apple. Shake dressing again and drizzle all over. Top salad with pomegranate seeds and fennel fronds.