Fennel Feta Salad

OMG!! I can’t believe I finish unpacking my boxes, I thought it would never end. Such a mess and to find a place for everything, wow…. Turns out everything had to be organized differently. But now I’m done and enjoying the amazing weather, it’s winter and we can go out wearing a short sleeve T-shirt… that’s priceless.  This weekend we found this place called “Surfas” it’s a restaurant supply and gourmet food (it was heaven) All the chef equipment and goodies, I was like a kid in a candy store. And the stuff for baking…. Wow… I loved it. They will know me by name soon.  I didn’t do much cooking recently, at the end of the day we would be so exhausted that we would just get some salad from ‘whole foods’ and go to bed.  My husband is still walking curved like a Homo-Sapiens before the evolution… poor thing, caught his back somehow with all the lifting.  But I’m back in the kitchen now, this time I didn’t even try to cook the whole thanksgiving food like last year, we had a  lovely Paella made by yours truly,  you can get the recipe here. I know, Paella is not that thanksgivingish but it was delicious and we felt as thankful. This salad is from an Israeli chef living in London (Yotam Ottolenghi). I recently got his book and I’m amazed with all the lovely salads. It was really fresh and aromatic and very easy to make. You will need a good Greek feta cheese though, it makes all the difference. Enjoy.

Fennel Feta Salad

• Half a pomegranate
• 2 medium heads of fennel
• 1½ tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp sumac (optional), plus extra to garnish
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 4 tbsp tarragon leaves
• 2 tbsp roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 2½oz/70g Greek feta cheese, sliced

Start by releasing the pomegranate seeds. The best way to do this is to halve the pomegranate along its “belly” (you only need half a pomegranate here), then hold the half firmly in your hand with the seeds facing your palm. Over a large bowl, start bashing the back of the fruit with a wooden spoon. Don’t hit the fruit too hard or you’ll bruise the seeds and break the skin. Magically, the seeds will just fall out, without splashing you in the process. Pick out any white skin that falls in.

Remove the leaves of the fennel, keeping a few to garnish later, and trim the base, making sure you leave enough of it still attached to hold the slices together. Slice very thinly lengthways (a mandolin would come in handy here). In a bowl, mix the olive oil, sumac, lemon juice, herbs and some salt and pepper. Add the fennel and toss well. Taste for seasoning but remember the feta will add saltiness. Layer the fennel, then the feta and then the pomegranate seeds in individual serving dishes. Garnish with fennel leaves, sprinkle over some sumac and serve the salad immediately