Roasted Sweet Potato, Fennel and Hazelnut Salad

With the British summer here in all its jagged, erratic beauty, it seems only right to be focussing once again on the wonderful and irresistible abundance of seasonal crops.  The roadsides of Norfolk are studded with seen-better-days caravans packed to the brim with locally grown raspberries, strawberries, beans, tomatoes, new potatoes and, if you’re lucky, a bucket full of medieval looking artichokes, their spiked domes just asking to be trimmed, steamed and scooped.

Colour plays an enormous part of this time of year.  Gardens, fields, hedgerows burst with vibrancy: gleaming whites, robust reds, deep greens and glossy purples reflect the photodynamic power of the sun’s heat.  I want my plates of food to reflect the season: colours, flavours and textures should layer and mesh, leaving you sated but still feeling light.

This salad is particularly simple to make and offers a delicious lunch or supper.  The combination of the roasted tender sweet potato, crisp, clean slices of fennel and delicately nutty hazelnuts provides a lovely medley of textures.  You could serve it as an accompaniment to a roasted chicken or pork tenderloin, studded with garlic and crusted in demerara sugar.  Equally, it would be delicious with pesto stuffed peppers or kebabs of harissa spiced aubergine.  I can happily eat it as it is; it’s light, lemony dressing and a handful of rocket being a lovely finish to its preparation.

ROASTED SWEET POTATO, FENNEL AND HAZELNUT SALAD

Serves 2 as a main or 4 as an accompaniment             

2 sweet potatoes

1 large fennel

50g hazelnuts

50g rocket

1 ½ tbsp olive oil

For the dressing

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp lemon juice

½ tsp soft brown sugar

Sea salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180c.  Place the nuts on a baking tray and toast in the oven until roasted and fragrant – about 6 minutes.  Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.  Next make the dressing.  Pour the olive oil into a bowl, add the sugar and then whisk in the lemon juice, bit by bit, until amalgamated.  Season to taste.

Peel the sweet potato and cut into 3cm chunks.  Place in a roasting tin and coat with the olive oil.  Season well and then roast in the oven for 40 minutes or until the potato has started to crisp on the outside and is tender to a knife point.  Remove and allow to cool slightly.

While the potatoes cook, trim the ends from the fennel and discard any tired or tough outer leaves; keeping any fennel fronds for dressing later.  Using a mandolin or very sharp knife, finely slice the fennel lengthways until you have fine and light strips.

Fennel, Carrot and Orange Salad

It seems that spring has finally sprung and both my body and mind are lapping up the recent sunshine.  There is something amazingly rejuvenating about the warm, amber glow of the sun seeping through your closed eyelids on a warm spring day.  The vitamin D surge aside, I think colour has a lot to do with it.  The emotion of colours has long been a popular subject; certain colours evoke strong emotional responses and are symbolic in their representation: blue is considered soothing, green is clean, red is the colour of passion and anger, while purple represents power.

I think that the spring sunshine and its bright haze of gold and orange stands for energy and rejuvenation, while its warmth girds our bodies in to greater activity and renewed vigour.  It also looks very appealing!  So when I decided that in honour of all this lovely weather I would make a mezze platter with salads for supper, I wanted to make something that gave off as much colour and energy as this much longed for good weather.

Fennel, Carrot and Orange Salad is a wonderfully bright and fragrant dish that works perfectly as part of a mezze style meal, as an accompaniment to a barbeque feast, or indeed, piled high on top of a baked potato with a good dollop of hoummous.  The sweet crunch of the carrots with the fresh, aniseed bite of the fennel are brought to life by the combination of coriander, orange and lemon and make for a vibrant, complex tasting salad that hints at the future summer warmth to come.

FENNEL, CARROT AND ORANGE SALAD

Serves 4 – 6

450g (about 6 medium) carrots

1 large fennel bulb

The juice and zest of 1 orange

The juice of 1 lemon

2 tbsp good quality olive oil

30g sultanas

30g pine nuts

A small bunch of coriander

Preheat the oven to 200c (Fan 180c) and place the pine nuts on a baking tray.  Toast until golden brown, remove from the oven and set aside to cool down.  Meanwhile, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, orange juice and zest.  Add the sultanas to the dressing and leave to soak for 10 minutes.

Peel and trim the carrots and remove any tough outer leaves from the fennel, then trim off the base.  Using a food processor, or by hand using a grater, grate the carrots and fennel and combine together in a large serving bowl.

Finely chop the coriander, add it to the fennel and carrot and pour over the dressing and sultanas.  Sprinkle over the toasted pine nuts and toss the whole salad until thoroughly combined.  Cover and leave in the fridge for an hour before serving, the flavours will really develop.

All recipes and images © 2010 Pippa Kendrick, The Intolerant Gourmet