Blood oranges are in season for just a few months of the year. Use them while you can! Here’s a simple Blood Orange Salad that lets this strikingly coloured fruit shine, both visually and flavour-wise. Shaved fennel provides a neutral salad base, while the juice from the oranges becomes part of the dressing.

This salad is refreshing, a little different and deliciously pretty!

Blood Orange Salad

Here’s a simple, blood orange salad that’s all about the blood oranges. It’s simple and straightforward, with no unnecessary bells and whistles, making it quick and fuss-free to put together. With produce this stunning, it’s the only way!

What are blood oranges, exactly? They look like ordinary oranges on the outside, though sometimes the skin has a red blush. But there’s a surprise inside! When you cut them open, the juicy flesh is blood red. Hence the name!

Blood oranges taste like oranges, with a hint of grapefruit. They have a slightly more bitter edge compared to ordinary oranges, but are sweeter than grapefruits.

The colour of the flesh varies as there are a few varieties. You can see in the photo at the top that the blood oranges vary from a dark crimson to vibrant orange-red hues.

It doesn’t matter what shade they are. They’re all stunning!

What you need for this Blood Orange Salad

Here’s what goes in this Blood Orange Salad.

• Blood oranges – As noted above, the shade of the flesh varies. It really doesn’t matter what colour you get! As long as the oranges are fresh and juicy!

• Fennel – A classic Italian pairing with blood oranges, this crispy, aniseed-flavoured vegetable becomes is very mild in taste when thinly shaven like in this recipe. This makes it an ideal base for any salad where you want another ingredient to shine – in this case, the blood oranges.

  The other reason I like fennel for this salad is because it is white. It contrasts beautifully against the vibrant coloured flesh of the blood oranges!

  For extra fennel flavour, reserve the fonds (the little leafy green bits) and sprinkle them on the salad. They’re perfectly edible and very similar to dill.

  Tip: Keep shaved fennel perky in ice water. When you’re ready to assemble, drain and use a salad spinner to dry.

• Red onion – For a little kick in the salad. I like to shave them thinly and pickle them lightly so they go a bit soft, rather than having stiff, raw onion sprigs littered throughout.

• Parsley – This is mainly for visual appeal and also a touch of fresh flavour.

• White wine vinegar – This is a milder vinegar that works well for the dual purpose of pickling the onion as well as making the dressing for this salad.

• Sugar – This is for pickling the onion. It speeds up the process as well as taking the raw edge off the onion.

• Extra virgin olive oil – As with any salad, the better the quality, the better the salad. Hence why even the simplest salads at top end restaurants taste so good!

The amount of actual vinaigrette used is small because the juice from the blood oranges that leaches out naturally is essentially supposed to play as much a part as a dressing.

Having said that, I couldn’t resist making use of some of the blood orange juice in the dressing itself. I drizzle this vibrant-coloured liquid over the assembled dish just before serving, mainly on the oranges. You can toss the whole salad with the Blood Orange Dressing if you want, but it will discolour the fennel a bit. The extent is dependent on how red your blood oranges are.

What do serve with Blood Orange Salad

Being a cold weather salad (because blood oranges are in season in winter and early spring!), try this alongside warming roasts. I think it would be particularly good with a roast chicken, a slow roasted pork belly with crispy crackling or a slow roasted pork shoulder – also with crackling!

For quicker midweek meal options, this is a good one for almost any non-Asian fish dish, prawns/shrimp, pasta, poultry or pork.

I’d love to know what you serve this with if you try it! Remember, blood oranges are at their best for such a short period of time. Make it now! – Nagi x

PS. No video for the 3 simple side salads I’m sharing today! (This Blood Orange Salad, Panzanella – Italian bread salad and a Garden Salad). But if you really want one, shout out below!

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Blood Orange Salad

This is a salad created to really let blood oranges shine, both visually and flavour wise. Fennel is lightly dressed with just vinegar and olive oil because the idea here is that the juice from the blood oranges acts like a dressing.

I couldn't resist using some of the vibrant ruby red juice to make a small amount of Blood Orange Dressing which I drizzle over just before serving. It looks great, and adds extra flavour!

I also like that this salad requires very little salt – the natural sweetness from the oranges carries it.

Course Salad

Cuisine Western

Keyword blood orange salad, orange salad

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Onion pickling time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 4 – 5 people

Author Nagi

Ingredients

• 1/4 red onion , finely sliced or shaved using mandolin 1 mm thick (~1/2 cup)
• 1/2 tsp white sugar
• 6 tbsp white wine vinegar (for pickling and dressing)
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 tsp kosher / cooking salt (Note 3)
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 3 blood oranges (Note 1)
• 1 fennel , medium, finely sliced or shaved using mandolin 1 mm (4 packed cups, Note 2)
• 1/4 cup parsley leaves

Cups – Metric

Instructions

• Lightly pickle onion: Mix sugar and vinegar, then add onion and set aside for 15 minutes to lightly pickle (vinegar should just about cover onion). Drain, reserve pickling vinegar.
• Slice oranges, reserve juice: Cut rind from oranges, then slice into rounds. Reserve all juice on cutting board – you want around 2 teaspoons (if you’re short, sacrifice a slice or two).
• Blood Orange Drizzle Dressing: Measure out 2 tsp pickling vinegar, shake/whisk with the reserved 2 tsp juice, 2 tbsp EVOO with a pinch of salt and pepper.
• Lightly dress fennel: Toss fennel in 1 tbsp onion pickling juice, remaining 2 tbsp olive oil, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper.
• Assembling: Place 1/2 orange rounds on plate. Pile over 2/3 the fennel, litter with onion, parsley, place half remaining orange slices on top. Top with remaining fennel, oranges then onion. Sprinkle with parsley leaves. Just before serving, drizzle over the Blood Orange Dressing, mainly on the oranges so it doesn’t stain the fennel too much. Serve immediately!

Notes

1. Blood oranges – This is a salad created especially to make the most of blood oranges, both flavour wise and visually. But it can be made with any type of oranges, no matter what colour!

2. Fennel – Finely shaved fennel can go floppy quickly. Keep it perky in ice water. Drain, then use salad spinner to dry.

3. Salt – This salad really doesn’t need much salt because the sweetness from the blood orange juice carries it. 

4. Optional extra – lightly toasted almond flakes make a lovely addition here too. I excluded it because I wanted to keep this as a light refreshing salad.

Life of Dozer

Double trouble! Dozer with this friend Turner. 🐶🐶 (Dozer left, Turner on the right!)

The post Blood Orange Salad appeared first on RecipeTin Eats.

No mayonnaise definitely does NOT mean boring with the RecipeTin No Mayo Coleslaw!  We love this Slaw because it’s interesting enough to compensate for no mayo in the dressing, refreshing enough to pair with rich mains, but still has the signature Coleslaw “juiciness”.

Made with cabbage, fennel, apple, dill and caraway seeds, this is the side we love to serve alongside Southern foods like Fried Chicken, brisket, BBQ Chicken, pulled pork and ribs.

No Mayo Coleslaw

This is the RecipeTin Family recipe for a Coleslaw made without mayonnaise that we truly believe stacks up to traditional Coleslaw in all it’s mayo-laden glory.

Don’t get me wrong. I love a good creamy Coleslaw.

But typically, Coleslaw gets suggested when we’re planning rich Southern menus for a family dinner. Think – meat, sweet BBQ sauce, and sometimes, full throttle deep frying.

And typically, someone sensible suggests that mayo Coleslaw might be too rich with all that meat, shouldn’t we opt for a lighter salad?

And typically (in pre-No-Mayo-Coleslaw-invention days) someone else would huff and puff about how Coleslaw is a classic side for a Southern blow out, and how we’re clearly not counting calories for this meal so why skimp on Slaw?

And so on, back and forth, until the family WhatsApp thread to decide the menu for a “simple” family dinner is many, many swipes long.

There is still much back and forth on family dinner menus. But since the creation of this No Mayo Slaw, there is no back and forth about slaw!

The combination of ingredients in this No Mayo Slaw might be surprising – but it’s addictive! The fennel and caraway seeds are quite subtle, and dill brings a wonderful freshness.

What you need for Coleslaw without Mayonnaise

Here’s what goes in our No Mayo Coleslaw:

• Cabbage – any green cabbage works fine here (but not Chinese cabbage which is more delicate so it will get too soggy);

• Fennel – shaved thinly so the flavour is quite mild, brings a fabulous freshness to this Slaw;

• Dill – this herb is the perfect match in this salad! Use more than you think you need;

• Apple – shaved finely, it adds a subtle sweet juiciness. Once dressed, it stops it from going brown (the pictured salad is a day old!);

• Caraway seeds – adds pops of minty-aniseed flavour that complement the fennel and dill, but we don’t use much and it is subtle. Yet this is a secret ingredient that makes people pause when they take their first bite, wondering what that flavour is and why it’s so good!

• Dressing ingredients – nothing ground breaking here, but note there is a deliberately high ratio of acid to oil. This slaw should be bright, punchy and have backbone to stand up to any rib-sticking main dish. A dainty French leaf salad vinaigrette this ain’t. We also use less salt (1/2 tsp) and more sugar (2 tsp) than you might expect. This is because we like the salad to lean equally sweet and salty, akin to traditional creamy Coleslaw.

How to make No Mayo Coleslaw

Lots of shredding and mandolin action for the vegetables. Then just toss it all together and ideally leave it to wilt for a good hour or two. (Because nobody likes coleslaw with stiff cabbage sprigs sticking out all over the place. We want it floppy and juicy!).

What we serve with No Mayo Slaw

As I mentioned in the opening, we (well, my brother!) created this No Mayo Slaw as a more refreshing alternative to traditional mayonnaise Coleslaw to pair with rich mains. In particular, Southern foods where Coleslaw is a traditional side option:

Fried Chicken

Pulled Pork with BBQ Sauce (Easy Slow Cooker)

Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich

Oven Baked BBQ Chicken – easy, from scratch!

Slow Cooker Beef Brisket with BBQ Sauce

Oven Pork Ribs with Barbecue Sauce

KFC Baked Oven Fried Chicken Tenders

One of my personal favourite “special treat” dinners is a Fried Chicken Southern Feast. Here is a menu for dishes that we made for a recent family dinner:

Southern Fried Chicken Dinner

Fried Chicken

Cornbread recipe

Homemade Baked Beans with Bacon (Southern Style)

KFC Potato and Gravy recipe

Green Bean Salad with Cherry Tomato Feta

Having said that though, the flavour is neutral enough that it will go with anything (non Asian). Delicate enough for fish and prawns, refreshing enough for big roasts.

Also, a couple more serving ideas:

• Meal salad – toss through tuna or shredded chicken

• In sandwiches – ham, tuna, smoked salmon or gravlax, chicken, avocado

Keeps for days and days!

One of the best things going for this salad is that it keeps for 3 to 4 days, much like creamy Coleslaw. In fact, I think it’s better made the day before, after all the flavours have had a chance to meld together.

So make a big tub of it, and bring it out day after day!! – Nagi x

PS Forgot to mention – if you love creamy slaw but want to skip the heavy mayo version, try a Yogurt Slaw Dressing. It’s very, very good!

Watch how to make it

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Our best No Mayo Coleslaw

Recipe video above. This Slaw is addictive! The combination of ingredients in this might seem surprising but the flavours work extremely well together. With a subtle, refreshing flavour yet somehow at the same time has that "juiciness" that we love about traditional mayo based Coleslaw.

The flavour of the fennel and caraway seeds it quite subtle – in fact, many people don't even realise it's in there, they just know it's delicious!

We love serving this refreshing salad with rich Southern Foods like Fried Chicken, Brisket, BBQ Chicken, Pork Ribs and BBQ Pulled Pork. It's a perfect match!

Course Sides

Cuisine Western

Keyword No mayo coleslaw

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Wilting time 1 hour hour

Servings 10 – 12

Calories 99cal

Author Nagi

Ingredients

Coleslaw:

• 1/4 large head green cabbage (or 1/2 small head) , shredded (~12 cups, Note 1)
• 1 medium fennel bulb , trimmed, halved and shaved at 1.5 mm on a mandolin (Note 2)
• 1 red apple (any kind is fine), halved and thinly sliced (1.5 mm thick)
• 1 cup dill leaves, roughly chopped (about 1 whole bunch)
• 2 tsp caraway seeds (Note 4)

Dressing:

• 2 small clove garlic , minced
• 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar , or less to taste (Note 6)
• 5 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 tsp caster sugar (Note 5)
• 1/2 tsp salt (Note 5)
• 1/8 tsp black pepper

Instructions

• Dressing: Shake Dressing ingredients in a jar.
• Toss! Place cabbage, fennel, apple and dill in a very large bowl. Pour over Dressing, toss well.
• Sprinkle with caraway seeds then toss again.
• Set aside for at least 1 hour to allow cabbage to wilt. Give it a good toss, then transfer to serving bowl and serve!
• Storage: Keeps perfecty for 3 to 4 days in the fridge. Dressing stops apple from going brown. Best to bring to room temperature before serving.

Notes

1. Cabbage – about 12 cups packed (ie push cabbage in), approx 600g/1.2lb (after removal of thick cabbage core).

2. Fennel – the body of a medium one is about the size of a baseball (small is tennis ball size).

3. 1.5 mm = 0.06 inches thick. Not sure how millimetres are expressed in the US!

4. Caraway seeds have a similar aniseed flavour to the fennel and dill. Don’t want to use too much, just a touch to add an extra something-something to this Slaw!

5. Salt & sugar – this dressing specifically has less salt and more sugar than you’d expect because we like it to have a Coleslaw-like flavour which errs more towards a bit sweet than salty.

6. Vinegar – Vinegars can vary in acidity, so taste as you go. We like apple cider vinegar because it’s a natural match with the fresh apple and is lower in acidity than other vinegars. You can sub with other (white) vinegars, but start conservatively (eg. 1.5 tbsp) and increase gradually until you feel the balance is right.

7. Nutrition per serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 99cal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 151mg | Potassium: 224mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 100IU | Vitamin C: 26mg | Calcium: 39mg | Iron: 1mg

Life of Dozer

A Physio taught me to use tennis balls to loosen tight muscles in my back (ie lying on them on a rug). It will come as no surprise to anyone that the balls keep going missing, and I keep finding them in Dozer’s not-very-clever hiding places  – such as buried under cushions and blankets on his bed.

Dozer – that innocent look on your face ain’t fooling anyone!

The post Our Best NO MAYO Coleslaw appeared first on RecipeTin Eats.

This fennel salad is a classic combination – thinly shaved fennel, lemon dressing and shaved parmesan. A fennel recipe that’s quick to make, it’s beautifully refreshing and presents elegantly. It’s the sort of salad you’ll find on the menu of fine dining restaurants!

Fennel Salad

Fennel is so refreshing, I love it raw. Shaving it is a great way to use it in salads because it really tones down the aniseed flavour that many people find off-putting about fennel.

In fact, I’ve served shaved fennel salads to quite a few people who aren’t a fan of fennel and they all loved it!

This fennel salad is a classic combination of flavours that’s an outright copy of salads I’ve had at fine dining restaurants and good bistros. The fresh, softly crunchy shaved fennel pairs beautifully with a fresh lemon dressing. Then a bit of parmesan to give it a special finishing touch and add an extra edge of flavour.

Plus, it presents really nicely in this “carpaccio” style. Very post restauranty! 😂

What you need

And here’s what you need. While we don’t use the stems of the fennel, we do use the fronds! A little sprinkle on the salad to use as the garnish, and also to add subtle extra hint of fresh fennel flavour!

How to make it

And here’s how to make it. It literally takes minutes to make if you have a mandolin to finely shave the fennel!

What fennel salad goes with

This is a great salad to have on the side of rich meat heavy meals like roasts because it is so refreshing. It’s a particularly good pairing with pork and poultry – here are some dishes that I like to serve it with:

Roast Chicken

Pork Roast with Crispy Crackling

CRISPY Herb Baked Chicken with Gravy (easy roast chicken!)

Juicy Roast Turkey

Garlic Chicken Thighs

Mojo Cuban Roast Pork

Slow Cooker Pork Loin Roast

Brown Sugar Garlic Butter Roast Pork

Lemon Garlic SLOW COOKER Roast Chicken

Hope you enjoy! – Nagi x

Watch how to make it

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Fennel Salad with Lemon Dressing and Parmesan

Recipe video above. This Fennel Salad is a classic combination - shaved fennel with a zesty lemon dressing and shaved parmesan. It's the sort of salad you'll find on the menu of high end bistros and fine dining restaurants. It presents beautifully, tastes refreshing and even people who don't usually like fennel enjoy it because the fennel flavour is actually very mild!

Course Salad

Cuisine American-Italian, Western

Keyword fennel recipes, fennel salad, shaved fennel salad

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Calories 122cal

Author Nagi | RecipeTin Eats

Ingredients

• 1 medium fennel , or 2 baby fennels
• 1/2 red onion , shaved or finely sliced
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil , separated
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese , freshly grated

Instructions

• Cut stalks off fennel (save fronds). Shave the fennel and onion using a mandolin, or slice finely.
• Place in a bowl. Add lemon juice and 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss.
• Spread out on a plate "carpaccio" style. Drizzle with more olive oil, top with freshly grated parmesan then sprinkle with fennel fronds.
• Serve immediately!

Notes

• Serve immediately after dressing as the dressing draws out a lot of liquid from the fennel quite quickly.
• You only need 1 medium size fennel to serve 4 as a side salad. You'll be surprised how far it goes once shaved!
• Fennel salad is a wonderful refreshing salad that pairs exceptionally well with pork and poultry. Some suggestions: roast pork, whole roast chicken, herb baked chicken with gravy.

Nutrition

Calories: 122cal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 276mg | Potassium: 242mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 127IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 103mg | Iron: 1mg

Originally published June 2014, updated January 2019.

Life of Dozer

Paralysed with indecision!

The post Fennel Salad appeared first on RecipeTin Eats.