Author Notes: Confession: I’ve never bought nor cooked with blood oranges. I don’t even know if I’ve eaten one, except I had a blood orange vodka once, but that’s another story. I always wondered, “Are they really that different from other oranges”? The answer is, of course, yes. And what a difference! In my experimenting, I found that I really liked the combination of these 5 flavors: apple, fennel, blood oranges, feta cheese and mint. I first tried a simple saute. It was good, but needed some ‘punching up’ of the flavor. The blood orange became too muted from the heat, and the flavors all went together a little too well with nothing really standing out. So I tried a salad and found what I was looking for. It’s a simple composed salad with each flavor really standing out individually but also playing together quite well – especially the blood orange. I used a small mandolin slicer to thinly slice the fennel, apple and red onion. The walnuts are optional, and I didn’t do it for mine due to my allergy to nuts, but others loved the addition. —TheWimpyVegetarian
Serves: 4
Ingredients
Apple Fennel Salad
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1 1/2
cups arugula leaves (packed), washed and dried
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1
Granny Smith (or other tart) apple, peeled, cored, thinly sliced
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1
medium fennel bulb, thinly sliced
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1
small red onion, thinly sliced
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1
blood orange, peeled and segmented removing the membrane
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1/3
cup feta cheese, broken up
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1/2
teaspoon mint leaves, chiffonade cut (about 10 leaves)
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1/4
cup honey glazed walnuts (see below instructions for how to make these)
Honey – Apple Cider Vinegar Salad Dressing
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1/4
cup apple cider vinegar
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2
tablespoons juice from a blood orange
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1
tablespoon Dijon mustard
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1/8
teaspoon ground black pepper
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1/2
teaspoon kosher salt
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1/2
cup extra virgin olive oil
Directions
Apple Fennel Salad
- To make the honey-glazed walnuts, preheat the oven to 350F. Place the walnuts on a foil lined cookie sheet and pour 2 tablespoons of honey over them. Toss lightly to coat them and separate on the sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes. Remove from the foil and set aside to cool.
- Make the dressing – the recipe follows this.
- Combine all ingredients and toss with salad dressing and serve.
Honey – Apple Cider Vinegar Salad Dressing
- Whisk together all the ingredients except the olive oil until well combined. Slowly add the olive oil while whisking.
/64bc3053-8f2a-43a7-8700-77177b2213b4--blood_orange_and_feta_mint_salad_medium.jpg "Apple and Fennel Salad with Blood Oranges, Feta, Mint Chiffonade and Honeyed Walnuts 2")
