This salad is a great way to include fennel. I never ate it growing up. We simply didn’t have it as part of our family’s cuisine.
Some people don’t like the flavour of fennel but I do! It has a sweet, perfumy, anise-like flavour but doesn’t really impart a licorice taste like you might expect. It probably is one of the most underused vegetables in home-cooking.
My go-to way of cooking fennel is by slicing it lengthwise, brushing olive oil on it, add a sprinkle of salt and broil on each side until lightly brown and soft. Maybe 6 or 7 minutes per side. I then eat it as a side or slice it up and add it cold to salads the next day.
This recipe though is all about fennel salad from the get-go, paired with orange, radish, and red onion. Tasty simplicity.
Fennel
What is fennel? It’s technically a perennial herb that belongs to the carrot family! You might not ever guess that given its appearance. Though it’s native to the Mediterranean region, fennel grow wild on the side of roads everywhere from Italy to California to Australian.
Fennel bulb is somewhat nutritious. It has some vitamins and minerals such as vitamin C and calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, and manganese. Fennel as a decent amount of fiber, 3 g per one cup.
Like most plants, fennel has heaps of nuanced plant compounds that impart health benefits. These phytonutrients many benefit the cardiovascular system, reduce the risk for cancer (1, 2, 3).
Radish
Are radishes good for you? You better believe they are. They don’t get the attention they deserve and are often seen as a garnish but they’re more than meets the eye.
When it comes to radish nutrition, it’s really about their phytonutrients. Radishes are part of the cruciferous family like cabbage, kale and broccoli are.
Crucifer vegetables contain compounds that are broken down into other potent anti-cancer compounds during chewing. These phytonutrients, isothiocyanates help the liver’s enzymes to detoxify and excrete cancer-causing chemicals that we’re exposed to all the time.
Radishes would make a great addition to your best liver health diet approach. For something different, try watermelon radish.
Fennel Orange and Radish Salad
Ingredients
- 1 bulb of fennel shaved leaves set to one side
- 2 oranges peeled
- 5 radishes
- 50 ml 3 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ lemon juiced
- 1 red onion peeled optional
Instructions
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Mix the shaved fennel with the lemon juice and half the olive oil, and leave for five minutes.
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Peel oranges and slice into rounds, about 1 inch thick. Slice the radishes thinly and mix with the orange.
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If using red onion, peel, slice thinnly and add
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Place a layer of the fennel and then a layer of the orange on a plate and finish with the remaining oil.
Doug Cook RDN is a Toronto based integrative and functional nutritionist and dietitian with a focus on digestive, gut, mental health. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.