One for the ages

This salad is quite simply sublime. It's one for the ages! Imagine potato salad and coleslaw getting married in the Mediterranean. There's heady olive oil, whispers of crunchy fennel, beams of juicy citrus, a generous scrape of garlic. It is hearty yet incredibly refreshing and ridiculously easy to eat. So that I remember:

Fennel, Potato and Orange Salad

From Casa Moro

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp sugar

1 garlic clove, crushed to a paste with a smattering of salt

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

750g firm, waxy, small salad potatoes, peeled, unless very small

4 navel oranges

2 small fennel bulbs

1/2 red onion, very thinly sliced

a handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

 

Whisk the olive oil, vinegar, sugar and garlic together. Season with salt and pepper. 

Place the potatoes in cold, salted water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 to 20 minutes, depending on the size, until tender. While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the rest of the salad. 

With a small, sharp knife, preferably serrated, cut the rind and pith off the oranges, keeping the fruit whole. Slide your knife along either side of each segment so you are left with supremes. Check out this video if you're confused. Add to a large mixing bowl. 

Remove any damaged outer leaves from the fennel, then cut in half lengthways. Using a mandoline or sharp knife cut each half into thin slices, no more than 5mm (a bit more than 1/8-of-an-inch) thick. Place in the mixing bowl, along with the onion and parsley leaves. 

Drain the potatoes and when they are cool enough to handle, slice into rounds no more than 1cm (about 1/3-of-an-inch) thick. Place on top of the other ingredients in the mixing bowl. Pour over the dressing, season with salt and pepper, mix well, taste, adjust and eat.

Serves 4.