Fennel Apple Salad

This simple fennel apple salad is combined with barberries, walnuts, and dill to make a perfectly seasonal side dish. Ten minutes and one bowl is all you need!

My grandma has the weirdest taste buds when it comes to dessert. She says she hates chocolate, though I’ve caught her a few times with her hands in a box of See’s. Her real dessert loves are lemon anything and black licorice. Lemon I understand, since a lemon bar or meringue pie sometimes hits the spot. But black licorice I can’t quite figure out. I don’t think I’ve ever even swallowed a piece because it’s been so quickly spit out. I normally wouldn’t touch the stuff to begin with, but Good and Plenty’s have tricked me a few times with their pretty candy coating. Gram doesn’t even need the pretty packaging. She just eats black licorice straight up, no chaser.

Because of my disgust with black licorice, I’ve had a hard time figuring out what to do with fennel. Its smell is reminiscent of licorice which turns me off. But, I’ve had some tasty fennel dishes at restaurants, so I knew it had hope. I bought a fennel at the market a few weeks ago with determination to figure out what to do with it.

And I did. I saw many salads with apple and fennel combined, so I tried it out. Just apples and fennel were a little plain so I added some goodies to jazz it up a bit. Walnuts for more texture, barberries for a tart sweetness, and dill for combining all the flavors together.

Grab the goods.

Thinly slice the fennel and apple with a mandolin or knife.

Add the lemon dressing.

And look at that. Ten minutes of salad making and I’m eating licorice-esque fennel.

Gram would be proud (right, Gram?).

Fennel Apple Salad

A simple fennel apple salad filled with barberries, walnuts, and dill is a great seasonal side dish.

Prep Time- 10 min

Total Time- 10 min

Ingredients

1 fennel bulb
1 apple
juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
½ cup // 65 grams chopped walnuts
¼ cup // 30 grams barberries*
4 sprigs of dill, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

With a mandolin or knife, thinly slice the fennel bulb. Discard the top, or save it for vegetable stock. Thinly slice the apple as well. Stir all the ingredients together in a bowl. For serving, sprinkle with extra barberries, walnuts, and dill.

Notes