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In-the-way vegetable a delicious salad ingredient

Recipe: Fennel pairs with celery hearts for a crunchy side dish

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED MAY 2, 2021

Fennel and celery slices in a red bowl edged with red leaf lettuce

Dressed and ready to serve, this salad is crunchy and flavorful. (Photos: Kathy

Morrison)

The fennel had to go, there was no question. I had plopped it into a corner of a raised bed last fall when I changed plots at my community garden. But now it was HUGE -- not to mention in the way of the spot where I wanted to put my Sweet Chelsea cherry tomato. And everything I've read says fennel is an anti-companion plant to tomatoes.

So the Giant Fennel of Carmichael was pulled up, and some of it went into a delicious salad. We had it alongside chicken, but it would be absolutely perfect with grilled salmon, if you're so inclined.

Note: As with any salad, the ingredients can be varied to one's taste. The New York Times recipe this is generally based on included radishes, radicchio and slivers of Parmesan, all of which I chose to omit for various reasons. I used about half the dressing, so there would be plenty if you decide to double the salad ingredients.

This is the fennel I used in the salad. It was less than one-third

the entire plant I pulled out.

Fennel-celery salad with lemon and herbs

Serves 2-4

Ingredients:

Dressing:

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice plus 1 teaspoon lemon zest (from 1 or 2 lemons)

1 or 2 garlic cloves, smashed but left mostly intact

Freshly ground pepper

Kosher salt

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salad:

1 medium fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly sliced (save some of the most tender fronds for garnish)

1 celery heart, inner stalks and leaves, thinly sliced (at least 1 cup)

Handful of snow pea pods, optional, halved

1 to 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

Several basil leaves, thinly sliced

Baby greens, all one kind or a mix, for serving

Garnish:

Reserved tender fronds from the fennel

Parsley and basil leaves on green cutting board

The parsley came from my garden, the basil from a plant I just

bought a few days ago. (It won't miss those leaves.)

Instructions:

Put the lemon juice, zest and garlic clove(s) in a jar or small bowl. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, then whisk in the olive oil (a small fork works great for this in a jar). Set dressing aside for at least 10 minutes.

To make the salad, put the sliced fennel, celery and snow peas (if using) in a salad bowl. Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Remove the garlic from the dressing, and whisk the dressing again to combine. Pour over the vegetables and toss. Sprinkle the parsley and the basil over the vegetables, stir in, and taste, then adjust the seasonings.

Line the edge of the bowl with the baby greens. Sprinkle the fennel fronds over the salad and serve.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

recipes Sacramento cooking produce management Carmichael gardening spring cooking vegetables herbs raw food backyard produce salad fennel celery

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Garden checklist for week of Feb. 8

Dodge those raindrops and get things done! Your garden needs you.

* Start your spring (and summer) garden. Transplant or direct-seed several flowers, including snapdragon, candytuft, lilies, astilbe, larkspur, Shasta and painted daisies, stocks, bleeding heart and coral bells.

* In the vegetable garden, plant Jerusalem artichoke tubers, and strawberry and rhubarb roots. Transplant cabbage and its close cousins – broccoli, kale and Brussels sprouts – as well as lettuce (both loose leaf and head).

* Indoors, start peppers, tomatoes and eggplant from seed.

* Plant artichokes, asparagus and horseradish from root divisions. Plant potatoes from tubers and onions from sets (small bulbs). The onions will sprout quickly and can be used as green onions in March.

* From seed, plant beets, chard, lettuce, mustard, peas, radishes and turnips.

* Annuals are showing up in nurseries, but wait until the weather warms up a bit before planting. Instead, set out flowering perennials such as columbine and delphinium.

* Plant summer-flowering bulbs including cannas, calla lilies and gladiolus.

* This is the last chance to spray fruit trees before they bloom. Treat peach and nectarine trees with copper-based fungicide. Spray apricot trees at bud swell to prevent brown rot. Apply horticultural oil to control scale, mites and aphids on fruit trees soon after a rain. But remember: Oils need at least 24 hours to dry to be effective. Don’t spray during foggy weather or when rain is forecast.

* Feed spring-blooming shrubs and fall-planted perennials with slow-release fertilizer. Feed mature trees and shrubs after spring growth starts.

* Remove aphids from blooming bulbs with a strong spray of water or insecticidal soap.

* Fertilize strawberries and asparagus.

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