Celebrate the citrus season with a simple, light, and satisfying Orange & Fennel Salad that can accompany just about any meal very well. Oranges and fennel are a perfect pair and combine well with shallots, goat cheese, and vinaigrette.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
A simple salad with simple ingredients
Orange & Fennel Salad can be made very quickly because it has few and simple ingredients. Layering them all on a platter also makes it so beautiful.
What kind of lettuce is best?
I love tender butter lettuce and especially the baby ones. If you can't find baby butter lettuces, use a head of butter lettuce and gently tear the leaves into smaller pieces. Butter lettuce is sometimes called Boston Bibb, by the way!
How to prep the fennel
Fennel is a fresh and crispy vegetable that tastes a little like licorice. I find it immensely delicious and just the right kind of crunch needed in this salad. The stalks are a bit tough so I cut those off, as well as the root end and the core, and trim the outer layers if there are any blemishes. A simple julienne cut is perfect for this salad.
Shallots are their own little bit of loveliness.
In flavor, shallots taste like a cross between onions and garlic. My eyes rarely water when I cut onions, but almost always do when I cut shallots! You can soak them in cold water to reduce the pungency if you'd like, but be sure to dry them well before adding them to the salad. Another option is to let them sit in the white wine vinegar before mixing the vinaigrette.
If you prefer, you can use purple onion, but be sure to slice it very thinly as well.
Prep the oranges
These two oranges were quite large, but prep more than two if they are small. Use a chef's knife to cut off both ends of the orange. Then set the orange on one end and cut the peel and pith off from top to bottom, curving your knife as needed. Make slices across ... they end up looking more like pentagons than circles!
Layer the Orange & Fennel Salad on a platter.
I think that Orange & Fennel Salad is most beautiful on a large platter because you can see all the components. Put the lettuce down first, then the fennel, then the shallots, and finally the oranges, topped with the goat cheese. This can all be done ahead of time and you can add the vinaigrette right before you serve it.
Let's make the vinaigrette for Orange & Fennel Salad.
All it takes is a bit of olive oil, white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey, and salt and pepper. I whisk it in a bowl, but you could just as well measure the ingredients into a jar and shake it to mix.
These little coil whisks are so handy to mix vinaigrette with! I highly recommend them.
Just whisk until everything is combined and emulsified, then pour it evenly over the salad.
What to serve with Orange & Fennel Salad
I could eat this salad on its own any day of the week! But of course, it goes with so many meals: grilled salmon, roast chicken, steak, pork chops ... It's a great winter salad when citrus is at its peak!
Recipe
Orange and Fennel Salad
Ingredients
- 5 ounces baby butter lettuce (about 140 grams) or 1 head butter lettuce torn into small pieces
- ½ fennel bulb (save the fronds for garnish) cut into slivers lengthwise
- 1 small shallot cut into thin rings
- 3 small oranges peeled and cut into rounds
- 2 ounces goat cheese crumbled
For the vinaigrette
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1½ Tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons honey
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Layer the lettuce on a large platter.
- To prepare the fennel, cut the tough stalks and root off. Save the fronds for garnish. Be sure to remove the core, then cut the bulb into slivers from the root end to the top. Layer on top of the lettuce.
- Layer the shallot rings on top of the lettuce and fennel.
- To prepare the oranges, use a chef's knife to cut off both ends, then remove the peel and pith. Slice the oranges to create rounds. Layer on top of the lettuce, fennel, and shallots.
- Pour the vinaigrette over, crumble the goat cheese around, then garnish with the fennel fronds.
For the vinaigrette
- Put all of the ingredients into a bowl and whisk until emulsified, or measure into a jar and shake till combined. Use as much as needed for the salad and reserve the rest.
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