This citrus based salad is visually bright, crunchy and full of flavor!
I love a unique salad to serve as a side dish to an otherwise basic protein I might be having. This salad may sound a little different to you, but it will surprise you! I first made a version of this salad at a class I attended, which I adapted to lower the sugar in the recipe and add some healthy fat to it.
This salad is gluten free, dairy free, nut free, vegan and vegetarian too, so it satisifies many different dietary preferences.
Here’s What You’ll Need:
- sunflower and pumpkin seeds
- olive oil
- raw honey
- sea salt
- navel and blood oranges
- fennel bulb
- shallot (optional)
- Castelvetrano olives
- avocado
- dried oregano
- fresh mint leaves
Making the Recipe:
You’ll start by lining a small rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and preheating your oven. While the oven warms, mix together the ingredients for the seed brittle and spread them out over the parchment paper in a thin layer. Bake the brittle and let it coool, while you do the prep for the salad.
Next, remove the peel and pith from the oranges with a knife. Once that is done, you can choose to cut the sections out of the oranges in between the membranes or cut them in slices.
Next, remove the fronds from the fennel bulb. Reserve some of the leaves for garnish. Cut the bulb in half from the top down and then cut out the core from each of he halves.
Slice the bulb halves thinly with a chef’s knife.
If you choose to include the shallot, slice it thinly. Then, chop the mint leaves and cut the pitted olives into quarters.
Arrange the citrus slices on the bottom of a serving platter or on individual plates. Layer in some avocado slices and sprinkle the salad with the sliced fennel and shallots (optional). Place the olives on the platter, along with fresh mint and fennel fronds for garnish. Drizzle a little olive oil and any remaining juice from the citrus over the salad. Top with small bites of the seed brittle just before serving.
Enjoy!
Print
Citrus and Fennel Salad with Seed Brittle
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: salad
Description
This citrus based salad is visually bright, crunchy and full of flavor!
Ingredients
For the Seed Brittle:
- ½ cup raw sunflower seeds
- ¼ cup raw pumpkin seeds
- 2 tsp. olive oil, extra virgin and cold pressed
- 4 tsp. raw honey
- 2 pinches sea salt
For the Salad:
- 2 navel oranges
- 2 blood oranges
- 2 small fennel bulbs, core and fronds removed and thinly sliced
- 1 shallot, thinly sliced (optional)
- 2 Tbsp. Castelvetrano olives, sliced
- 1 avocado, thinly sliced
- 2–3 Tbsp. olive oil, extra virgin and cold pressed
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt, medium grind (or use a flaky salt)
- 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
- 1/4 cup mint leaves, roughly torn or chopped
- 1/4 cup fennel fronds, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment.
- Mix together all of the ingredients for the brittle in a bowl. Stir well to ensure the seeds are evenly coated with oil and honey.
- Spread the seeds out on the parchment in a thin layer, but so that they are still touching each other and can form pieces of brittle once cooled.
- Bake the brittle for 8-10 minutes, until it is lightly browned. Remove from the oven and let it cool 10-15 minutes before breaking it into bite sized pieces of brittle.
- While the brittle bakes, prepare the salad components.
- Remove the peel and pith from each piece of the citrus. Using a chef’s knife, cut off a thin slice from the top and bottom first, so that the orange sits securely on your cutting board. Then, cut from top down to remove the peel from the sides of the citrus.
- You can either cut the citrus crosswise into slices or remove each of the sections in between the membranes with a paring knife.
- Next, remove the fronds from the fennel bulb. Cut the bulb in half from the top down and remove the core from each half. Then, thinly cut slices from the fennel.
- Thinly slice the shallot, if using. (optional)
- Slice the olives and avocado.
- Arrange the citrus slices on the bottom of a serving platter or individual plates. Layer in some avocado slices and sprinkle the fennel around the citrus. Drizzle any remaining citrus juice over the top of the salad.
- Place the olives on the platter along with the fresh herbs and some fennel fronds for garnish.
- Drizzle with the olive oil and season with salt and oregano.
- Break up the cooled brittle into small bites and sprinkle them over the top the salad.
Notes
- This brittle is tasty to snack on and also added to salads for a slightly sweet and salty crunch.
- Add in a grapefruit too, if you like.
- Feel free to use basil leaves instead of mint leaves.