Here in Los Angeles, we barely have any seasons. In fact, this year, our summer came really late, and has been warm up until the last week or so, where we actually got some rain. Could this be Fall upon us? No. At least not according to any of our trusty weather people.
Tonight I was craving a delicious cold salad, so while at our trusty Albertsons I decided to take a look around the produce department and to see what looked interesting. I figured that I haven’t made anything with fennel in a while, so I decided to whip up a tangy, cold salad that was beautiful to look at. Mission accomplished!
Ingredients:
1 large bulb of fennel 4 sprigs of fennel leaf
1 small red bell pepper
1 handful of cilantro
1 small jalapeno pepper
1 green onion
1 small or medium zucchini
1 TB rice vinegar
2 TB extra virgin olive oil
2 limes
sea or kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste
Step 1 – Prep
Using a mandolin, or your awesome knife skills, shave nice thin slices of the fennel bulb
Slice red bell pepper in 1/8″ slices
Chop the green onion and cilantro
Remove the seeds from the jalapeno and slice thin slices of the jalapeno. Only use the amount you want based on how much heat you need
Cut the ends off of the zucchini and slice 1/8″ slices lengthwise, then turn those slices sideways and slice 1/8″ slices again. You should have slices that resemble “noodles” of zucchini
Step 2 – Assembly
Place all of the veggies in a bowl and add the rice vinegar, juice of the 2 limes, and the olive oil and toss. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to chill and open up the flavors.
Garnish with fennel sprigs before serving!
