FENNEL, PEAR & RADISH SALAD

When I make salads like this, I like the ingredients to be crunchy and have some texture rather than being paper-thin, so I cut everything with a sharp knife instead of a mandoline – it doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect. You should be able to bite into the fennel so that it releases its juices in your mouth – almost like eating an apple. The pears should be sweet but not overly ripe.

FOR 4

2 fennel bulbs, with fronds

16 breakfast or heritage radishes

1 pear

½ a bunch of fresh dill

50ml extra virgin olive oil

25ml Moscatel vinegar

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Trim the top of the fennel (keep any fronds but discard the tops of the stalks). Cut in half, lengthways, on a slant. Then cut into 2mm half-moons, as though you are cutting an onion.

Keep the radish tops if they are very fresh and nice, otherwise trim them. Cut the radishes in half.

Peel the pear, cut in half, remove the core, then cut into 2mm half-moons, like the fennel.

Chop the dill finely.

Mix everything together with the olive oil, vinegar and salt and pepper, and serve straight away.