This simple and fresh salad makes a full-flavoured side dish and will sit nicely along side any main course. It is quick and easy to make, all you need is a few fennel bulbs, rocket leaves and uncomplicated olive oil and lemon dressing. It can also be enjoyed as a main salad if you are looking for a nutritious and light meal recipe.

Raw fennel can be quite fibrous, but when sliced very thinly and mixed with some salad leaves it really makes a wonderful salad.

Wild rocket has been used as a culinary herb since Roman times, and this peppery leaves was a little known weed.

Fennel and wild rocket salad has been popular along the coast of Slovenian Istria, where I come from, long before wild rocket became “fashionable” and mass produced for the supermarkets and food stores.

Along the Slovenian coast and inland Istria wild rocket grows naturally on the fields and other areas with dry and poor soil (close to typical Istrian dry stone walls), and has been foraged by the locals since – well, since forever, and they mixed wild rocket leaves with other types of salad leaves to make a variety of different salads. My 96 year old nona remembers very vividly picking it.

I am sharing here this traditional and unpretentious shaved fennel and rocket leaves salad recipe that will bring freshness to your dinner table, and for extra flavour and a bit of crunchy texture you can top this salad with walnut kernels or lightly toasted pine nuts.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

2 fennel bulbs
pack of rocket leaves (about 60-100g)
juice of ½ of lemon, or to taste
extra virgin olive oil, a drizzle, or to taste
sea salt
a handful of walnut kernels, optional

Method

Wash fennel bulbs under cold running water and dry them with kitchen paper or kitchen towel.

Place the bulbs on the chopping board and cut off the hard hollow stalks from the bulb which are quite tough and very fibrous.

Cut the feathery fronds from the stalks if you are using them for this dish for adding extra flavour and garnish.

Trim off a thin layer of the root end of the bulb (the base of the fennel bulb).

Thinly slice the bulb using a sharp knife or ideally mandoline slicer, if you have one.

Transfer the fennel slices into a big salad bowl and add rocket leaves.

Season with sea salt, add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice.

Toss together, taste, and adjust the seasoning.

Sprinkle and scatter a few walnut kernels and fennel fronds, if using.

Serve immediately directly from a salad bowl or pile onto plates.

This rustic, rich and dense loaf filled with dried figs and walnuts, will be a fantastic addition to your cheese platter, it is delicious toasted and buttered for breakfast, makes a nice foodie gift, and it is a great snack. Dried figs give a light sweetness to the bread while the walnuts add a very pleasant crunchy texture. If you are intimidated by bread making, I can assure you, this a foolproof recipe, there is nothing complicated about it!

My 96 year old nona told me that in Slovenian Istra, when she was small, the children were given a slice of this bread as a snack for a special treat. The locals call it in the dialect Pan de Fighi, and it was bought in bakeries, and not usually baked in the household, as one might think. Ripe fresh figs, when in full season at the end of the summer were sold in the Farmer's market which provided an extra income for the family.

Nowadays in Slovenian Istra, this bread is not commonly found in bakeries and supermarkets.

I am sharing here my nona's recipe for this super delicious, enriched, special bread.

Recipe

Ingredients

500g white all purpose (plain) flour, plus extra for dusting and coating
30g caster sugar
10g (2Tsp) instant dried yeast
260ml lukewarm milk or water (or half and half)
60g unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 Tsp sea salt
150g dried figs, roughly chopped
100g walnut kernels, roughly chopped

Method

With the knife roughly chop the walnuts.

Remove the hard stem from the figs, if there are any, and chop into smaller pieces.

Place the flour, sugar, yeast, milk (water or half and half) and butter in a large bowl. Stir with a fork or a wooden spoon to combine the ingredients then bring together with your hands.

Tip onto a lightly floured work surface, add sea salt and knead for about 10 minutes, pulling and stretching the dough, until it becomes smooth, elastic, and no longer sticks to your fingers or the surface.

Roll the dough, or press out to flatten slightly into a roughly rectangular or oval shape.

Top with chopped figs and walnuts.

Knead back into the dough.

Place the dough in a slightly oiled big bowl, cover with cling film (I use plastic shower cap) and leave it to rest in a warm, draught-free room for about 1 hour, or until the dough doubles in size.

Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface, knock the air out and shape it into a loaf, oval shape.

Put the loaf onto a baking tray, previously lined with baking parchment, cover with clean tea towel and leave to rest and prove for further 30 minutes, or until risen slightly.

Preheat the oven to 180C static or equivalent.

Sprinkle the top with a little extra flour.

Using a very sharp knife, make a shallow cut along the length of the loaf.

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until golden brown in colour.

If it browning too much tent the loaf with some aluminium foil.

When baked, the loaf should sound hollow when tapped on the base.

Sliced Fennel and Rocket Salad with Olive Oil and Lemon Dressing Istrian Recipe

Ingredients

Method

Dried Fig and Walnut Bread Istrian Recipe

Recipe

Ingredients

Method