The last few days have been crazy! The COVID-19 pandemic has become a global issue and everyone just keeps on feeling more and more worried and terrified by the way things play out every day. The city resembles a ghost town, like so many other cities around the world, with empty streets and closed shops while some countries have already closed their borders. All these extremes measures are of course taken in an effort to prevent further spread of the virus. Our reality has turned into a science fiction film, to say the least.

Despite the unfortunate circumstances and our isolation at home, I feel we all need to stay positive and optimistic. It’s important for all of us to find ways to keep ourselves occupied with activities that inspire us and make us happy. As you can easily imagine, to me that means being in my kitchen and cooking, always with my camera at hand!

Yesterday, I received a basket filled with fresh vegetables from a very good friend’s veggie garden. He knows how much I love fresh and beautiful vegetables of any kind, so he was generous enough to send me a little bit of everything!

Super fresh, pure vegetables, from farm to table! Among the many different vegetables in my basket, I found two fennels, also known as finocchios. I started thinking what I could do with them while they’re still super fresh. I knew they’d look amazing in pictures but was still quite indecisive about the recipe I’d choose to make.

To be honest, I’ve never been that big of a fan of this vegetable even though I know it’s quite popular and commonly seen in many recipes. I started looking for a recipe that would spark my interest and saw it as a chance to learn a bit more about this root and its aromatic leaves.

Fennel or finocchio is a highly nutritious root, a superfood almost. Allow me to list only a few of its benefits. Low in calories and with a liquorice or anise-like flavour, fennel is very commonly used in Italian and French cuisine. Its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects as well as its nutritional value have been known since antiquity. Fennel is a great source of vitamin C (which is exactly what we need these days) and minerals, such as potassium, manganese, calcium, phosphorus, iron and copper.. It is also high in fibre and more importantly, fennel contains anethole, a compound with important anti-cancer properties.

After reading the long list of its health benefits, I think I’ve grown quite fond of fennel. Now that I know how nutritious it is, I’m looking for a salad, as I don’t want to alter the nutrient composition of this super healthy vegetable with heat. And I found it!

I found the most perfect, colourful, nutritious and antioxidant salad with fennel, avocado and grapefruit in Marie Asselin’s wonderful book, “Simply Citrus”. Honestly the freshest and most colourful salad you’ve ever tasted! In my own version of Marie Asselin’s recipe, I chose to use blood orange instead of grapefruit, as I couldn’t find any pink grapefruits anywhere. I also added an ingredient that gave some extra flavour and aroma to this dish; spearmint leaves. Trust me when I say this is a truly delicious, colourful, aromatic and crispy salad!

There’s no clear protagonist in this dish, as all ingredients complement one another perfectly. The sweet and fresh taste of blood oranges blends with the thin, crispy fennel slices so well and spearmint adds a wonderful aroma and a super fresh finish. I feel that now that we all need to boost our immune system with vitamins more than ever, the timing is just perfect for this salad.