Parsley Fennel Salad Niçoise

This was a simple put-together salad. So what makes it a “Salad Niçoise?” I tend to name things if I put several signature items into the dish. I’m not a purist when it comes to Salad Niçoise, so if it has tuna and olives (preferably niçoise, of course) in it, I’ll ‘abbreviate’ it so people can get what the recipe’s about more quickly.

Rather than using lettuce as a greens base, I used parsley. Added the bright fennel to counterpoint the earthy parsley, and punctuated it with slivers of red onion.

The dressing was equal parts low-fat mayonnaise, capers, vinegar, lemon juice and two parts water.

Now that's a leek!

Winter leeks in Israel are in season in Israel in January, but generally available all year long. They are available as organic produce as well.

My wife found one of these monsters yesterday in Machane Yehuda, where I haven’t had a chance to go in nearly a month. Looking at the same old vegetables in my local grocery is a little depressing, but when these started showing up, I started thinking about how many different ways I could play with them. (more…)