Fennel Citrus Salad with Minted Strawberries & Kiwi – Spring Fruit Salad

One of the things I love about spring is the diverse range of fruits with all of its amazing colours, various textures and distinctly nuanced flavours is abundantly available to us in this season. When they’re in season means that they are cheaper and tastier. Strawberries are as cheap as chips!! There’s nothing like indulging in fresh fruit in the springtime, and I’m here today to share Fennel Citrus Salad with Minted Strawberries and Kiwi. This salad with zesty dressing plus the cool green mint added to the strawberries highlights the flavours of the fruits and gives it a refined twist.

Coming to Fennel, let me be honest here, fennel and I weren’t friends until I made this salad and discovered that it actually tastes really nice. It’s slightly sweet with anise-like flavour. You may need to get used to its flavour at first but if it is combined with the right ingredients, you can render its taste, mild and delicate. I love the crunch it gives to whatever it is added to. It stays crunchy for a long time after it’s sliced or cut, making it a perfect ingredient for salads, and in fact, I think Fennel Citrus Salad tastes even better the next day.

I experimented with adding my favourite fruits in my Fennel Citrus Salad and it turned out really well. I couldn’t be happier – the citrus fruits balanced the flavour of fennel and gave it a nice refreshing zing, the minted strawberries and kiwis added an interesting layer of sweetness, colour and texture to the dish.

It’s best to work over a bowl or a rimmed cutting board while segmenting citrus fruits so you can capture the stray citrus juice. I like to collect the juices of the fruits and incorporate them in the dressing. If you want to see the technique to segment for any kind of citrus fruit, there is a really good tutorial here from Fine Cooking.

Any meal becomes that much more complete with this healthy and inviting fruit salad as breakfast or an afternoon snack. I personally really enjoy jazzing my fruit salad like this, making it into a slightly more flavourful pleasure, one that very easily can take the place of a traditional dessert.

Fennel Citrus Salad with Minted Strawberries & Kiwi:

• Using a sharp knife, cut off both ends of the orange, lime and lemon and slice the rind off. Slice along the membrane of each slice to remove without any skin. Cut out the segments, letting them fall into a bowl, along with the juice. Set aside.

• Peel and cut kiwis into thin circular slices.
• Hull the strawberries and cut into heart shaped slices. Add all the ingredients under “dressing“ to the sliced strawberries and let it sit for 10 minutes for all the flavours to be infused into the strawberries.

• You can see below the balsamic vinegar I have used!!
• Slice the tops off the fennel bulbs and cut them in half lengthwise. Remove the coarse outer shell of the fennel bulb, rinse, lay flat and cut into thin, lengthwise slices.
• Add sliced fennel to the bowl of citrus segments and toss together gently with sugar and a pinch of salt. Add in a few strawberry slices and mix.

• On a flat serving plate, layer the kiwi and strawberries and arrange the fennel-citrus slices on top.Garnish with fennel fonds or mint and serve.
• While the mint leaves will look and taste best on the first day, I really enjoyed the leftovers from this salad for lunch the next day.

Print Recipe

Fennel Citrus Salad with Minted Strawberries & Kiwi - Spring Fruit Salad

Fennel Citrus Salad with zesty dressing & the cool green mint added to the strawberries highlights the flavours of the fruits to give a refined twist.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Total Time20 minutes mins

Course: Salads / Fruit Salads

Cuisine: International

Servings: 4 to 5

Author: Padma

Ingredients

• 2 Navel Oranges
• 1 Lime
• 1 Lemon
• 2 Kiwis peeled and cut into thin circular slices
• 10 Strawberries hulled and cut into heart shaped slices
• 1 Fennel bulb halved, cored and thinly sliced lengthwise
• Fennel fonds for garnish
• Dressing for strawberries:
• 1 teaspoon Balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sugar divided
• Citrus juices from cut fruits orange, lime & lemon
• 2 Tablespoons finely chopped Mint leaves
• Salt to taste divided

Instructions

• Using a sharp knife, cut off both ends of the orange, lime and lemon and slice the rind off. Slice along the membrane of each slice to remove without any skin. Cut out the segments, letting them fall into a bowl, along with the juice. Set aside.
• Add all the ingredients under “dressing“ to the sliced strawberries and let it sit for 10 minutes for all the flavours to be infused into the strawberries.
• Add sliced fennel to the bowl of citrus segments and toss together gently with sugar and a pinch of salt.
• On a flat serving plate, layer the kiwi and strawberries and arrange the fennel-citrus slices on top.Garnish with fennel fonds or mint and serve.

Notes

Try experimenting with any other combination of fruits or dressing!!

No patience??….then just mix everything and serve!!

This is my second recipe for the blog hop theme SALADS. Do check out Black eyed pea Quinoa Salad recipe in Endive Boats.

Many more to come!! Stay tuned!!

Happy Cooking 🙂

Cheers!!

Padma