I find fennel to be a delicious winter vegetable. That not seems to be the opinion of the rest of my family. They refuse to eat it most of the times. But this weekend I thought of making some butter and garlic prawns, a delicate risotto and a salad to go. I could only think of a nice fennel salad to bring all the flavours together. Thinking of their resistance towards this versatile veggie, I tried my best to come up with a dressing that might tame a little the specific licorice, sweet, almost perfume alike taste. Take a look, try it and share your experience! 

Ingredients for a big platter (6-8 servings as side salad, 2 servings as main salad):

• 2 fennels, washed and dried
• 50 gr. grated parmesan cheese 
• a few leaves of parsley
• juice and zest from 1 mandarin (or clementine)
• juice and zest from 1 lime
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Method:

1. Shred the fennels using a mandolin or cut it with a sharp knife as thin as possible.
2. For the dressing: in a bowl, put the zest and juice from the mandarin and the lime. Add the Dijon mustard, salt, pepper and olive oil. Whisk everything together until you have a smooth and homogeneous dressing.  
3. Arrange the fennel on a serving platter, scatter the grated parmesan cheese and parsley leaves. 
4. When serving, drizzle the dressing all over the salad and enjoy!