Shaved Fennel Salad

it’s so delicious
and the leftovers next day as well
i never ate zucchini raw
this will become my summerfood
thx
lg birgit

This recipe has brought me out of the salad doldrums! Sometimes it’s hard to get inspired — but trying something new is a great way to do it. I am in love with the idea of using dill with fetta (something I’ve never done before).

looks beautiful!
i agree with you – i do tend to glaze over the recipes without pictures, but since i’m more of a cookbook reader anyway, i often give ’em a try even if there isnt a picture, as long as i take the time to read through the recipe, or the story about the recipe.

Sounds like a perfect summer salad & I can use half the ingredients straight from the garden. Thank you!

Since I am not a fan of licorice, I hesitated to try fennel for years, but once I did I loved it! This salad sounds just amazing for these hot summer days- now I need to practice my slicing!

The salad is delightfully light and refreshing and summery. I made it with chopped roasted almonds and a goat feta. I might add more zucchini next time; I found I kept hunting for the slices in my bowl. Thank you for this!

YUM, Fennel is the business. Beautiful salad, healthy and works a treat with a Salmon Fillet and glass of bubbles. So good.

Had this for dinner last night and am THOROUGHLY enjoying leftovers for lunch today. Delicious!!

As it turns out, this salad (with or without the dressing) makes for a great sandwich topping, too, offering more interest and a greater nutritional punch than plain old lettuce!!

This salad is magnificent, I am enjoying it right now! I also want to say that the pomegranate glazed eggplant dish is wonderful. I made it twice over the weekend because we have eggplants coming in in the garden. I used maple syrup and also garbanzo beans in place of the tempeh. Thanks so much for the beautiful photos, the recipes and the inspiration to live well.

Can’t wait to try. I’m a naughty girl, but it feels good. Sitting at my desk working, I go into gmail. The big G apparently knows I like this site, as there is a 101 Cookbooks — Shaved Fennel Salad ad at the top. Ooh, Fennel, I think to myself and click — when I should be working.

I made this salad today and it was absolutely amazing. I added some thinly sliced celery and used the sliced almonds on top. Thank you for always sharing such delicious, healthy recipes.

Fennel and I have been involved in a love affair since early February, so I will definitely be trying this soon.

I don’t usually post comments, particularly when you have to read through a hundred others, but that is one most delicious looking salad, I’m gonna have to try it now. Thanks for sharing!

I love salads and this looks deelish. I purchased arugula for the first time about a month ago. I used it along with blue cheese and stuffed it inside a chicken breast. Great recipe someone shared with me. Anyway, my question is about arugula. It seemed to go bad pretty fast. How long should I expect for it to last and anything I can do to extend arugula’s life? 🙂 Thoughts anyone? Thanks!

I don’t like fennel so I will be trying this. WILL BE. I ordered your book, made three things from it last night…HUGE success! Kale salad with coconut…don’t like coconut either…it was awesome in this. Sometimes the interplay of ingredients and flavors make for a happy marriage in the mouth. You kill recipes. Kick them out of the park delish.
@Karen on arugula…wash, spin dry…wrap in damp (very damp not wet) paper towel…place in fridge. No bag.
Thanks Heidi for showing how easy delicious food can be. *pat yourself on the back!*

Thanks Molly!

this is a lovely salad, will prepare it very soon!

I made this last night for a group of people with “discriminating tastes” 🙂 and lots of food allergies (the anaphylactic kind). I kept the feta and almonds on the side and it was LOVED by all! I got to share your website with everyone (again). Thanks Heidi!

I always forget about shaving fennel! I end up candying it or braising. Thanks for this!

Came across your blog and I love your photos and recipes! The salad looks delicious. Can’t wait to follow…

I have been following your recipes for so long via 101cookbooks.. today, I finally ordered both your books.. My way of saying thanks for all the goodness you put out there, Heidi! Love you
xoxo

Funny, this was the 2nd one of your recipes from that book that is next on my list to try. I made your tortellini salad (with a few changes) – that had no photo in the book either. True, I like recipes with photos but a good recipe is a good recipe with or without photos.

I love how assertive vegetables can be tamed by a bit of shaving. And dill seems to bring so many good flavors together. Thanks for the recipe.

Looks healthy and delicious! I love salads and you definitely catch me with this one. Can I add a drop of balsamic vinegar to the recipe?

Guilty as charged! I will definitely be making this over the weekend, way gorgeous pics-thank you!
You have also inspired me to include recipes with my foodie photos, I love creating a dish and photographing it but have been a bit lazy about providing complete recipes.
Love, love, love Super Natural Every Day, even without a pic each recipe is fab!

I would probably use almonds too – most likely because those are what I would have on hand!

Your cook book is amazing! As a busy mom of two 7 year olds; one vegetarian and one with dairy and egg allergies, I am thrilled to find such a delicious, thoughtful and beautiful book.
Thank you!
Kim Fiscus
San Francisco

This salad was on my list of recipe’s to make from SNE but just hadn’t got around to it yet…. I made it last night for dinner and served it with the stuffed shells from the last post, both of which were really yummy and perfect for a cold Melbourne winters night!

I’ve fallen for it too…head over heels.

It seems crazy that such a simple salad could be so gorgeous, truly stunning. Love this recipe!

Wonderful salad! Even my 3 year old loved it! Except i didn’t use arugula (bad childhood experience) but rather mesclun and added teeny tiny raisins as well. Thank you!

This is my kind of food! Yumo!
Such great ingredients- just reading it makes me want to dive in!

GO HEIDI!!
Amazing salad. I’ll often drool over blog posts but am rarely moved enough to actually make the dish. Truth be told im not a follow-the-recipe kinda gal. This, however, looks incredible, great flavour and texture combinations. i’ll be eating this for lunch tomorrow.
THUMBS UP.

this looks lovely. I’m drawn to anything with courgettes in at the moment as I have grown SO many… constantly trying to think of new things to do with them! I also made your Spring Panzanella this week which was so delicious I put it on my blog. Thanks! xx

the recipe looks great – have always wanted to try fennel – just wasn’t sure what to do with it…!!
i have also received BOTH your books in the post today… – am looking forward to reading them and trying the recipes out..!!

I often fall into the category of cooking by pictures. Recently my good friend Chef Heidi Fink shared her thoughts that cookbooks with out photos of the food are some of the best cookbooks. This shaved fennel salad looks to fall into this category. I look forward to giving it a try.
PS, spent a weekend with my best friend and ate almost exclusively from SNED, love the chanterelle tacos and the quinoa patties. Yum!!

I am one of the multitude who are guilty of not making recipes without pictures. My cookbooks with pictures are certainly used the most frequently. One thing I love about the blogging world is that you can find pictures of un-photographed recipes in your cookbooks!

I love fennel in salads. And the dill here is brilliant. I wouldn;t have thought to add in dill along with the sharp arugula and sweet fennel… so interesting!

I’m ALL over this salad!!!
I LOVE fennel
I LOVE dill
YUM!

I’m not very good at shaving vegetables paper thin but do love working with fennel – the light licorice scent is wonderful and, for its pale colour, it boasts a surprising number of nutrients.

After reading this post I prepared this recipe for dinner. I subbed spinach for the arugula and grated manchego for the feta. The salad was better than I even imagined it would be. A real hit!

We went hiking in Big Sur today, and stumbled across a wild fennel patch and had to come home and make this salad. The anise scent is compelling. Funny how the universe guides us!

I love pictures with recipes… but I want to start my own cookbook and seeing all the recipes and all the pictures that would need to happen, yikes!
Love fennel. One of my favorites!

this may have been said… for non-US readers…
arugula = rocket
zucchini = courgette

I am definitely more drawn to recipes that have accompanying pictures, so I’m glad you took the opportunity to share these photos!
Looks like a lovely salad. I don’t have a mandoline but will see if my food processor will cut the right size slices – probably won’t be quite as pretty, but that’s ok.

Hi Heidi,
I am having the thrill of a CSA share from my local farm this year….talk about cooking fresh! The veggies are AMAZING, and it just so happens I have a fennel bulb, fresh dill, and zucchinis just waiting to be used.. Your recipe arrived in my inbox as if heaven-sent. Thank you, I can’t wait to try it this weekend!

The salad looks delicious and your photos – as always- are amazing!

I have fresh arugula and fresh dill from the local farmers’ market and now I know what I’m going to make with them! Thanks for the photos and the recipe!

i just got my copy in the mail yesterday and fell asleep curled up with it – coveting your pantry and wishing this particular recipe had a photo! You are my hero and I decided last night that you are decidedly my girl crush. This recipe will be made in my house ASAP!

It’s true that I am not as prone to make the recipes without photos. But I did make the Panzanella from your book for dinner tonight and loved it! The peanut butter in it intrigued me. Unfortunately I got home from the store and realized I forgot to buy the sprouts and then while I was making it I realized that I had thrown my sesame oil out because it was a little on the old side (like 2 years). But I threw a bunch of julienned baby spinach in it and some fresh basil and it was delicious. Hey everyone….Make this photoless recipe!!
On a side note…I need a recipe that incorporates a lot of fresh radishes. Might they go well in this fennel salad?

We love fennel, and just got two big bulbs in our CSA box! (Thanks, Mariquita Farms!) Sigh… looks like I will have to finally give in and buy a mandoline. Such a beautiful salad!!!

yum!

Beautiful salad! Love this!

I love fennel; I’ve been cooking with it so much this summer so far and it’s amazing…so fresh and delicious. Love this recipe, Heidi…sounds great!

Thanks to my husband, we almost recite the recipes from cookbooks we like. Photos or no photos (I must admit, though, that I prefer the ones with photos 🙂 ) .
As for the fennel, shaved is good when raw; I prefer it thin as paper, otherwise I rather cook it. 🙂

I am a big fennel fan. I often slice it and bake it in the oven with some parmesan cheese.

It’s so funny you posted this today, because I made the shaved fennel salad for both myself and my client yesterday. It was fresh, clean, delicious and beautiful as proven by your photograph. Thank you!

Oh, this looks like a delightful summer’s eve salad. Thank you! I’m collecting as many “cooling” recipes as I can here – it’s 35’C in Spain now, so this is perfecto.
Cheers!

My mouth watered when I looked at the photo. This salad reminds me of a salad I had once at a now defunct restaurant here in Napa. It was similar in ingredients and its simplicity made it shine. If I close my eyes I can still taste that delicate fennel with hints of lemon. This salad will definitely be on the menu this weekend. Maybe I’ll invite Geeg over to try it. Or maybe I’ll be greedy and eat the whole thing myself!

This looks great! Thanks.

My mom *loves* fennel… I’m bookmarking this for when it’s in season again so that I can serve it to her as a surprise special treat!

How funny, your new post popped into my email box as I just finished making your Big Sur Power Bars for the first time. They are the BEST! My runner husband gobbles up Clif Bars like they are going out of style and this is an incredible homemade replacement (and improvement)! He better not get home from work late today because I just might gobble all these up! Love ALL of your work–thank you!

You’re so right – I’m really bad about trying recipes that have no photo. It’s true what they say though, we eat with our eyes.

Oh wow… I think I just died & went to heaven! That looks like exactly what we need for this warm weather. Just gorgeous!

Lack of a photo didn’t stop me from making this salad, it is one of my favourite recipes from your new book. It is delicious! Nice to see your photos though.
I used some olives when I made it and they were a nice addition.

You book arrived this week! It was well worth the wait — I can’t wait to try some of the recipes.

Yum! I love the flavor and crunch of fennel. Your salad sounds great!

I know what you mean! I have a cookbook coming out in the next year with every recipe having a picture, but my other books are in black and white. Great recipe!! Miriam@Meatless Meals For Meat Eaters

Oh this salad looks so great, I love this kind, fresh, crispy under the teeth and so tasty !!
But it’s some time that I’m thinking about mandoline, would you have any advise ?
And the pictures looks really great, sad you couldn’t put them on the book, witch I might buy soon, I hope !! Looks great !

I love raw fennel. Recently, at my boyfriend’s parents house, we realized that fennel had taken over his mother’s herb garden. I yanked some up, totally excited to have the fennel bulb to eat. Turns out that fennel (the herb) is different than the fennel bulb we eat. Just a word to the wise 🙂
Heidi, your ability to turn simple food into something to think on is unmatched. Thanks so much.

I often make a simple salad with arugula and shaved fennel with a lemon shallot vinaigrette. Seeing this combination of ingredients has inspired me to try adding the other ingredients to it! Beautiful photo!

I am new to fennel which I love roasted and I have heard shaved on salads is a great way to prepare it. I am definitely in the market for a mandoline. Thanks for the recommendation.

I am one of the few who is more drawn to a recipe by the words used to describe it then the photo. I have several cookbooks with no photos and for me the worse offense is no descriptions. They are amongst the least used books I have. This salad sounds perfect and I will patiently wait until zucchini is in season at my CSA in the next month to make it.
I have often made Alice Water’s shaved fennel and mushroom salad which is amazing in its complexity for so few ingredients. I am betting that this one will also become a favorite.

I made this recipe a while ago (no photo did not stop me from appreciating fennel/lemon/dill combination based on the written word alone), and it’s delicious! It’s so nice of you to post it on the blog, so that even those who don’t have your book can enjoy it.

I actually like it when a book has gorgeous photography (like yours), but not on all recipes. They are like hidden gems, a special surprise when you think you already have cooked all you could out of a book. They often end up being my favourite ones.

I just received your cookbook in the mail, and it’s even prettier in person than it is on my screen! I can’t wait to dive into the recipes, and I’ll make sure to pay close attention to the recipes without photos, too!
Love your blog!

Oh, I love fennel! I usually do a fennel and cabbage salad, with white beans and dill, but I’ll have to try the zucchini and arugula combination too.
I’ll also happily eat fennel striaght… just like candy… for dessert. The bulbs never last in my fridge!

my guilty pleasure is reading a cookbook from cover to cover, tagging first impressions with a coloured tag to retrieve quickly when i am ready to try out the recipe. what i have loved about both of your cookbooks is that your writing, stories, little blurbs on life are equally enticing and comforting as your photos are. i’ve already made this salad and its one of my favorite afternoon lunches! thank you!!

It’s crazy, I know, but I’ve actually never had fennel. I eye it at the market all the time, but always pass since I have no idea what to do with it. This is perfect! Thank you for introducing me to new foods and ideas!

Nice. I’ve been enjoying fennel as a fresh tasting addition to all sorts of things lately, adding it in with onions and garlic for my starter sautes. I even put some on a veggie burger. My favorite is plain old braised leeks and fennel. I haven’t eaten in on a salad, yet, for some reason. Will remedy that tonight! Thanks!

made this tonight for dinner! will be a regular from now on! thank-you. x

I love the simplicity of this salad. It’s perfect for this time of year. Thanks for sharing the photos. As always, beautifully done. I think I know what I’ll be making for lunch this weekend!

i love the idea of shaved veggies…it just makes them sound so light and dainty and delicious!

Yes, the poor recipes with no photos. They do get over looked. Your opening photo is quite beautifully lit and so perfectly clear. I am collecting some recipes that don’t require an oven and can be made at our lake house next month. This would be a good one! Thank you.

Great photos. I love your book Super Natural Every Day and appreciate you posting this picture. I will definitely be trying this recipe now. I have always wanted to try fennel and have never cooked with it before now. As always, thank you for the great cooking advice and ideas that you post on your blog!

This looks great! Found your site a couple of months ago and after a long 3 week wait just got your book from Amazon yesterday. I’ve made some of your cookie recipes and they’ve been outstanding! Looking forward to working through both your books.

Your book was my favorite birthday present this year, and I dug into it like the NYTimes best-seller that it is on my commute to work. It’s an interesting conundrum: either using one’s imagination to conjure up a dish, or finding a gorgeous picture of a meal and wanting to recreate it.

This is right up my alley. I love fennel!

Isn’t it strange how (not that long ago) cookbooks didn’t really have many (if any) photographs, and relied on the quality of the writing to stimulate appetites. Nowadays, if there isn’t a photograph the recipe gets bypassed. The very best of today’s books (including yours, Heidi) have both a unique ‘voice’ and beautiful, relevant photography, capturing not just the look of the recipes, but the mood of the book.

Your fennel salad looks awesome!
And the part about recipes being glossed over without a photo that accompanies it…so true. I admit that I am guilty of that and in general, cookbooks that have few or poor photos, I dont even open those cookbooks.
I have your book and I love it!! And I admit, I picture-surfed first, read recipes second 🙂

Looks yummy and it’s perfect for putting yet another fennel bulb I got in my CSA box to good use.

I bet this would be amazing atop some pizza bianca – yum! The mental picture alone is amazing.

I can’t wait to try this.
Pictures are so important:-)
I think I start tasting while looking at a beautiful food photo.
This one looks so fresh and nice. Great for the heat we have been having here in NC.
Thanks!

Heidi, I haven’t made this recipe yet– maybe this is the push I needed. I do have SNED and I am in love with your harissa ravioli recipe. Like might leave my husband for it love. I even served it to my foodie parents when they came into town for a visit, and they adored it. I also want to give the nod to your multigrain pancakes. Both were huge hits and have become regulars in my house. Your palette always delights and surprises.

This is beautiful! I’m so glad you gave this salad its time in the spotlight 😉
I especially love that I can get all of these ingredients at the farmer’s market right now. Nothing like a super fresh summer salad (hold the cheese and honey, for me, obviously, but everything else will still be perfectly delicious)!

Don’t worry – the lack of photo didn’t prevent me trying this recipe – and totally loving it! You are right when you say it is more than the sum of it’s parts. One of the best salads I have had for ages. I am loving the book!

I LOVE fennel and have a hard time finding recipes that really showcase fennel. I can’t wait to try it this weekend!

Absolutely adored the book, and since I come from a long line of twisted-by-corn-syrup taste buds, I tend to go through it slowly, springing the dishes one-at-a-time deliciously upon my family table. Thank you! I’m going to use this salad for a poolside nine-year-old soccer team party next week. I expect a few converts to your good cooking then.

@Rhoda–
I make an arugula salad with shaved fennel and oranges (or grapefruit) and avocado and toss it with a creamy dressing of ground macadamias blended with lemon juice, olive oil and soy milk. It’s great, and vegan, and seems like it has dairy in it.
This recipe looks terrific! Looking forward to trying it 🙂

If you could not have the feta or any type of dairy, what would you substitute if anything? I was thinking of oranges?

Agree – much like judging a book by its cover or a wine by its label, I tend to gravitate to the recipes with pictures. This looks awesome – I do something similar with brussel sprouts, pecorino, toasted hazelnuts, and truffle oil. So many variations possible…

I love the book – and please don’t have any regrets – it is more than equal to all the other books out there! I’ve actully already made a few recipes, but not this one. So perhaps I should give it a go pretty soon. It looks beautiful!

we received two bulbs of fennel in our CSA basket last week. and even though there wasn’t a picture, I flipped to this recipe in SNED. it was delcious and my husband couldn’t stop raving about it!

I was fortunate a few weeks ago to be able to get your book at my favorite independent bookstore, Vroman’s in Pasadena, CA. I too was disappointed there weren’t pictures for this recipe so thank-you for sharing.

This salad sounds really good but I must admit that I don’t have a love on for dill…Would it be blasphemous to ask for a recommendation for a substitution?

Do you think I could substitute kalamata olives for the feta to make it vegan? Or would you recommend something else? Thanks!

True – recipes without pictures are so easy to overlook. Take the “Lemon zested bulgur wheat”: so easy, extremely delicious, and pretty enough for a thousand photographs.

I am guilty as charged, one of those who did glaze over this one. But, these photos have grabbed my attention. I actually have no experience with fennel. I was given some as a sort of CSA hand-me-down once, and was lost. This looks nice and simple, and like one of my weekend lunches I’ll be shopping for. The almond sub is right up my alley too. Thanks again for inspiring another near future meal. Now if I can entice my three year old to try it….

Wonderful Heidi – I’ve just printing the picture out to tuck between the pages. I absolutely adore both your supernatural books – they’re in constant rotation in our kitchen. Looking forward to the next! And thank you for the super healthy and super flavoursome inspiration.

What a refreshing and bright salad! Love the additions of the fennel and nuts as well. Thanks also for sharing the photos – I feel like they always help to make a recipe come to life (which is super helpful for a home cook trying to recreate it!)

Thank you for the photos! I had looked at this recipe in the cook book and wondered about it. It looks very tasty.
I was wondering though… is it possible to leave out the dill? Or substitute it for something else? I’ve tried and tried to like dill and all of my efforts have been thwarted.

Even though there isn’t a photo I had already marked this one in my copy of Super Natural Every Day 🙂 Looks deliciously summery

Thank you for this! Your cookbook has not left my counter since I bought it… i’ve made about a dozen of the recipes (some multiple times already). it’s fantastic.

Love this salad! So delicious and so bright and summery.

This looks wonderful. Love the ingredients. Have lots of arugula (had to look that one up – we call it rocket) in the garden. Will be a good one for our B&B guests. Very French. Many thanks.

I just received your new book – I love it – simple and beautiful. I want to make everything. I am so glad you added the photo of this salad!!

In all honesty, I would’ve pounced all over this salad recipe, with or without photographs, as It has many of my favorite components.
But if you’re still reading, I’ll confess that the photos do evoke a serious craving.

Even though I usually overlook recipes without photos, i find the stories behind the recipes plus the unique ingredients in Super Natural Every Day are compelling enough to make me want to make the dishes. That is the sign of a good cookbook.

Ah but I also think the little blurbs that authors sometimes put before recipes–things like personal experiences and preferences with the food–always win me over too, and sometimes I think they are even more important than photos. You always have such wonderful “blurbs”, and it was the one preceding your baked oatmeal recipe that prompted me to try it this morning. I loved the recipe very much, as I do your whole book!

Its 8 o’clock in the morning and I only just had breakfast, but your pictures of this salad really make me hungry. I love dill, in just about anything. It has such a fresh flavor. Thanks for the recipe!

Well, I do think you’re right about the ‘photo helps the recipe to be noticed thing’, but in this case.. Yes it looks beautiful on these photo’s, but that list of ingredients draws my attention anyway. One of those recipes I will actually really make and not forget about. Feta, dill and fennel.. whish I thought/knew of it before!

Thanks for highlighting this recipe Heidi. I do have to admit to often overlooking the photo-less recipes in books. I was eyeing up big juicy fennel bulbs at the vege store just this morning and love feta and nuts in just about everything. Awesome work on the book sales! Selling out must be a great feeling 🙂

looks like I’ll be heading to the store again today! Love your blog and am waiting for both your books to arrive at my door! LOVE fennel!

I just received you book in the mail and I am loving it! It has become my bedside reading. 🙂
This salad looks so beautiful and fresh. I best it would be fantastic with parsley and bufala mozzarella as well!

I always enjoy reading and making the recipes sans photo. I always feel like I might be stumbling upon a diamond in the rough or something!