Monday, July 11, 2011

Fish Tacos (Again) with a Fennel & Kohlrabi Salad

Fish Tacos were on the menu again tonight although this time I used Mahi Mahi.  Everything else was very similar to the last time - radishes & shredded carrots for crunch and cilantro as lettuce with creamy avocado. I did marinate the fish this time in some oil, lime juice and ancho chili powder before cooking.  But the star of tonight's menu was the salad I served along side. I had been dying to try the kohlrabi and really wanted to use it raw so I did some research on salads using kohlrabi and found one with fennel.  I am that strange person who goes through the jelly beans at Easter to only eat the black ones.  I love black licorice so when I discovered fennel with that anise flavour several years ago I've been hooked ever since.  Orange and fennel is a classic combination so while most of the recipes I saw called for lemon juice in the vinaigrette on this salad I used orange.  In addition to really heighten that anise flavour I used tarragon as the fresh herb.  As a bonus one recipe called for carrots and I still have my carrots from the CSA so I added those as well.  In hind sight I would actually have cut the orange into segments and added it to the salad.  It was a really refreshing salad!

Oh and one last thing - when I cut into the kohlrabi I swear it smelled like peanut butter.  It doesn't taste like peanut butter though - more like a sweeter broccoli stalk. 

Fennel and Kohlrabi Salad
1 kohlrabi, peeled and cut into cubes
1 fennel bulb, tough outer part removed & sliced
3 carrots, peeled and sliced into rounds
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Orange, zest and juiced
Fresh Tarragon, chopped (or you can use parsley or dill)

In bowl toss kohlrabi, fennel and carrots. In small bowl mix olive oil, salt & pepper, orange zest & juice and tarragon until emulsified.  Dress salad until desired coating - this makes a little more dressing than is needed so I saved the extra for another salad.

Another trick is to save the fennel frowns and garnish the salad with them before serving.

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