Monday, November 19, 2012

Fennel, Orange, and Onion Salad

With Thanksgiving around the corner, you'll want to eat lighter the few days before, to save some calories for the big Feast! One of my all-time favorite fall, and winter salad is the fennel and orange, paired with red onions, capers, on a bed of your favorite salad, or salad leaves; such as Romaine, or for that matter a simple Iceburg which I had leftover from using shredded lettuce to accompany last weeks tacos (sorry, no photo)
Fennel is so refreshing, so crispy and if you like licorice, you will love the flavor of this delightful fennel bulb, trimmed, and sliced into 1/2 inch pieces...and don't throw out the fronds; they make an excellent decoration...kind of reminds you of dill fronds, but not as strong...they are perfectly eatable, as well!
Back in 2000, when I first started my WeightWatchers diet (lost 37 lbs.) is, when I discovered this wonderful salad...with -0- points if you don't use a dressing with extra virgin olive oil...actually even with just 1 teaspoon of the oil, and a white wine vinegar dressing, I still think it's -0- points a serving...so go ahead, and enjoy this beautiful salad...and by the way, if you're wondering how to cut beautiful segments of oranges; watch this video that will show you how easy to segment an orange.

Fennel, Orange, and Onion Salad
recipe ; by Elisabeth... Weight Watchers inspired

1 small fennel bulb, trimmed, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 naval orange, peeled, and sliced into segments
1 red onion, halved, and sliced thin
1 Tbsp small capers, drained and rinsed
sea salt, and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoon white wine, or rice vinegar
small amount of leftover orange juice from the segments
Your favorite salad leaves, or bed of salad
Chopped fennel fronds

In a medium bowl, mix together the fennel, the red onion, the capers, and carefully mix in the cleaned orange segments. Toss with the oil, and vinegar. and serve on a bed of lettuce leaves, or your favorite salad mix...salt and pepper to taste, and top with fennel fronds. Serves 2-4... very tasty, mild, and refreshing.


Linking to: Cast Party Wednesday Link Party, @ Lady Behind the Curtain









Enhanced by Zemanta

33 comments:

rita cooks italian said...

Nice! This is surely very refreshing. It is a good light meal before the holiday season!!

Swathi Iyer said...

Delicious fresh salad. Hope you already plan for thanks giving. Here everybody is sick. Hope I will able to get dinner planned for thanksgiving.

MJ said...

fennel is the most refreshing veggie u can use for a salad....i especially love using the bulbs for salad and chop up the leaves and add it to the dressing.....or even better...make dips out of it...yum! been a long time since i bought fennel....shud put it on this week's grocery list :-)

Balvinder said...

What a beautiful crispy salad!

Illéskrisz Konyhája said...

Izgalmas ízek, így együtt egy tányéron! Biztos finom, még nem ettem így...

Joyful said...

It looks like a wonderful and refreshing salad.

Joyful said...

Hi again Elizabeth, I'm wondering if you have a recipe for the chocolate drop cookies which your grandchildren decorated last year at Christmas? I also have a question on your November 3, 2012 post. I'm wondering if you fried (cooked) the chicken wings before simmering them in the sauce. Many thanks!

a. maren said...

wow, i can just imagine how all these flavors would come together! red onion, orange, fennel, capers? sounds phenomenal!

Phong Hong said...

Beautiful and refreshing salad! Oh yes, we must eat more salad before the great indulgence!

Katalin said...

Nagyon guszta a salátád, ilyen párosításban még én sem ettem salátát, de biztosan finom, pikáns ízű.
Nem tudom, nálatok "divat"-e a névnapok megtartása, Magyarországon igen. Tegnap volt Erzsébet nap, ez úton szeretnélek köszönteni, és sok boldogságot kívánni neked!

Angie's Recipes said...

For me, this is better than any heavy greasy holiday dishes. So fresh and delightful!

CJ - Food Stories said...

Oooh ... I love this ... Looks so light & refreshing :-)

Priya said...

Crunchy and super flavourful,refreshing salad.

Mijú said...

Que ensalada tan estupenda :)
Un saludito

Sissi said...

Elisabeth, you can be sure I will prepare this salad very soon! It looks very elegant and I cannot imagine how I could not go crazy for it since I love orange and onion salad, I love capers in everything and most of all fennel is another vegetable I never cook (this year seems to be a vegetable discovery year with all the celery experiments I make!). Thank you so much for teaching me the "fronds" word. I will say it casually in front of some English native speakers one day ;-)
In spite of the Thanksgiving's absence, I already think of how much I will eat for Christmas.... This salad will be a nice light winter side dish.

Gizi said...

Elisabeth ez egy igazi ízkavalkád, és én nagyon tudnám szeretni. Csodálatos színekben pompázik, gyönyörű fotót készítettél róla. Ma én is salátanapot tartottam, igaz más hozzávalókból készítettem, de az is nagyon finom volt. Puszilak

Joyful said...

I found the answer to my 2nd question but still wondering about the cookie recipe ;-)

Miz Helen said...

Hi Elisabeth,
Just stopping by and wishing you and your family a very Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving!
Miz Helen

Jay said...

wow...this looks insanely tastyy..
Tasty Appetite

Jane of The Jewels said...

Interesting video Elisabeth - there sure isn't much actual 'orange' by the time everything's removed! I'm sure I will try this technique in the future. Your salad lokks gorgeous, that beautiful blue sure sets it off. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

Zsuzsa said...

Elisabeth this salad looks fabulous. The ingredient list tells me I would love it. You thinking ahead with salad and I am thinking back I had too many bars yesterday. Salad it is for me today, but I doubt it will taste as good as this one.

Cucina49 said...

This looks so colorful and zesty--I always love a good salad to counteract all the heavier Thanksgiving food.

Anazar said...

Impressive salad. Fresh, crunchy. Yummy!

Amelia said...

Hi Elisabeth, very refreshing and appetizing salad. Love the color, look so pretty. Thanks for sharing the delicious recipe. Oh, I love the blue plate too. :)

Happy thanksgiving day. Have a lovely week ahead,with hugs and kisses to you.

Shabs said...

Hey Elisabeth , how r u ??? The salad looks so fresh and healthy , very zesty :) . Happy Thanksgivng dear friend :) .

Kathy said...

Hi Elisabeth…Such a lovely salad…love fennel! Wishing you and yours the Happiest of Thanksgivings!!

Emma said...

So fresh and lovely looking - I really must try fennel, I hear so much about it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

lena said...

thanks for the idea on fennel in salads, i only tried them once with chicken. Wishin you a happy thanksgiving!

Lizzy Do said...

What a gorgeous salad! Too late for eating light before Thanksgiving, but I need this for the days after!!! Hope you had a wonderful holiday, my friend!!!! xo

Elisabeth said...

Hi Everyone! So sorry for not commenting on your blogs...not even wishing you a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
I have not had a chance to go on my computer for over one day. Hope all you dear friends in the U.S. and outside, living, or visiting outside the U.S. had a Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you for all your comments and holiday wishes; will visit your blog as ASAP. Hugs,

mia xara said...

Hi Elisabeth, hope you had a great Thanksgiving day!I love your salad, very light and fragrant! XOXO

Chic & Gorgeous Treats said...

Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving! I have always wanted to experiment with fennel when I had a risotto with a blue crab and fennel combination back in Melbourne, Australia. It tasted so good. I am definitely going to brave myself and make this salad too :). The flavour combination sounds light and delish too. Till then.. have a great weekend ahead- Hugs, Jo

Patty said...

This is one of my favorite light but highly flavorful salads too;-)
I wish I had been eating lighter prior to Thanksgiving....I promise to be good after the holidays, too many good goodies around for the next month and a half....can't believe how close we are to Christmas!