Sliced Orange Salad With Fennel and Shallots Recipe

OK, so oranges: technically not a vegetable, but if you are like me and can’t go a day without consuming one between November and March, then your life is about to get markedly better. A traditional Sicilian salad, the combination of sharp and pungent shallots and juicy-sweet orange segments should be high up on a top 10 best-food-pairings list, and the fennel only adds to that. There is nothing simpler — especially when you forego the fussy supreming for basic cross sections, as I do here. P.S. I’d argue it’s elegant enough for a holiday side, with the added benefit of offering a brightness and acidity amid the platters of richer dishes. —Jenny Rosenstrach

Sliced Orange Salad With Fennel & Shallots

Serves 2 large servings or 4 small servings

Prep time: Under 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced (microscopically thin if possible) shallots
• 2 tablespoons champagne vinegar
• 2 navel oranges, peeled and sliced horizontally
• 1 small fennel bulb, stalks trimmed and shaved as thinly as possible (preferably on a mandoline)
• 2 tablespoons good-quality extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
• Flaky sea salt

Courtesy Crown Publishing Group

Directions

In a small bowl or measuring cup, soak the shallots in the vinegar. Let sit for at least 2 minutes. Arrange the orange slices on a platter. Top with the shaved fennel and shallots. Drizzle with the olive oil and the champagne vinegar you used for the shallots. Garnish with mint and sea salt. Pretend you are sitting in a centuries-old hilltop Sicilian village overlooking the Ionian sea.

Excerpted from The Weekday Vegetarians Get Simple. Copyright © 2024 by Jenny Rosenstrach. Photographs copyright © 2024 by Eva Kolenko. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Crown Publishing Group.