RADICCHIO, FENNEL & BLOOD ORANGE SALAD

Rose Ashby — Spring’s Executive Chef — has made the recipe for Skye as a simple and beautiful way of using winter citrus. A creamy, blood-orange dressing counters the bitterness of the radicchio, creating a perfectly balanced winter salad.

RADICCHIO, FENNEL & BLOOD ORANGE SALAD

Ingredients

1 head radicchio
1 fennel bulb
2 lemons
2 blood oranges
50ml crème fraîche
1 tsp honey
Maldon sea salt
Grated parmesan (to taste)
A couple of sprigs of chervil

Method

1. Prepare the salad leaves. Wash individual radicchio leaves in cold water and dry well.

2. Peel the blood orange. Use a serrated knife to slice off both the top and bottom. Stand it on one end and slowly shave off the peel and pith, working from top to bottom and curving the knife to follow the shape of the fruit. Continue until all peel and pith is removed, and then slice the orange into pinwheels (about the thickness of a pound coin).

3. Lie the fennel flat on a board and halve it down the middle. This should leave you with the full inner face of the fennel, allowing you to slice large pieces that will curl and coil, adding drama and texture to your final salad. Thinly slice the fennel, ideally on a mandolin. Fennel oxidises easily, so it's important to toss it with lemon juice immediately after slicing. Store the fennel in ice water until you are ready to plate. This will allow it to curl and crisp up. Make sure to drain and dry this thoroughly with kitchen paper when it comes to plating.

4. Make the dressing. Mix crème fraîche with the zest and juice of half a blood orange (you may also squeeze the juice from any peel removed in the previous step). Add a teaspoon of honey, and a pinch of salt. The dressing should have a nice balance of salty, citrus, and sweet flavours. Adjust this to taste with more orange juice, honey, or salt.

5. Lightly dress the radicchio with olive oil and a little salt. Sprinkle with a little of both lemon and blood orange zest, and a pinch of finely grated parmesan. Add a squeeze of lemon juice for brightness. In a separate bowl, do the same with the fennel. It is important to dress this separately to the leaves, as fennel is more robust and can cope with heavier seasoning.

6. Begin plating with a small drizzle of the dressing in the middle of the plate and a slice each of orange and fennel. On top of this, layer radicchio leaves, two orange pinwheels and a couple of slices of fennel. Spoon over more dressing and then repeat. Make sure that each layer contains every element so that there is a little of everything in every mouthful.

7. Finish with freshly picked chervil, a drizzle of olive oil, and three drops of blood orange juice for brightness.