fennel and green apple salad with lemon chicken and almond dressing

This is something I wanted to make due to my curiosity over fennel. I’ve always loved the flavour, however I’ve never cooked with it before. Although this doesn’t really count as cooking, it was a less intimidating way of seeing how it pairs with some things that I’m more familiar with! Its a great dish for a light lunch, but for dinner I recommend simply pairing it with some waxy new potatoes coated in salty butter.

Serving size for this recipe is around 4

Ingredients for the salad and dressing

• 2 bulbs of fennel

• 2 Granny Smith Apples

• 4 stalks of celery

• 2 cloves of garlic

• 100g skin on almonds

• Juice from 1 lemon

• 1 Tablespoon cider vinegar

• A good slug of extra virgin olive oil

• Fresh mint leaves

• Salt and pepper

Ingredients for lemon chicken

• 1 chicken breast per person

• 5 cloves of garlic (oh yeah)

• Zest and juice of 1 lemon

• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar

• Slugs of olive oil

• Salt and pepper

Salad Recipe

1. Start by finely chopping the apples celery and fennel and putting all in to a large serving bowl.

2. Grind the almonds either in a food processor or pestle and mortar, you want them to almost turn to a coarse almond flour. After grinding, toast them in a shallow frying pan until golden and fragrant.

3. Once your almonds have toasted and you’ve taken them off the heat, peel your 2 garlic cloves and pound them in the pestle and mortar to make a paste (or give them a good blitz). Once you have a paste, add the lemon juice, vinegar and olive oil, until you have what looks like a basic salad dressing.

4. Add the almonds to the dressing along with salt and pepper to taste. The dressing should be a thick paste but you can loosen it by adding more olive oil. Now that you have the dressing, combine it with the salad. You probably need to use your hands to coat everything really well.

5. Finely chop some fresh mint and sprinkle over the top.

6. Serve with the lemon chicken!

Lemon Chicken Recipe

1. Finely chop all 5 cloves of garlic, zest and juice your lemon, and add them to a small bowl along with the cider vinegar, salt, pepper and olive oil, then rub all over the chicken breasts. Cover your chicken and pop it in the fridge for a minimum of 30mins. The longer you marinade the chicken the more flavour will permeate the flesh.

2. Drizzle a frying pan with a small amount of oil and put on a medium heat. Once the pan is hot, add the chicken breasts and fry until a golden crust develops on the outside. Keep basting your chicken with the juices in the pan. The frying time depends on the size of the chicken breasts, so maybe use a heat thermometer to make sure its cooked.

3. Leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving with the salad!