Fennel and Celery Salad

2 fennel bulbs
3 celery ribs
1/4 cup olive oil
3 T lemon juice
salt/pepper

Cut fennel in quarters - use mandoline to slice thinly.  Slice celery in the same thickness. Chop small handful of fennel fronds.  Toss all together.  In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, then combine with vegetable. 


The original recipe called for freshly shaved parmesan cheese.  I find shaving parm to be tedious, and I don't think I can taste it in this salad.  Also, if you are going to make this salad ahead of time and eat over the course of a week (which I do) I recommend leaving out the salt and just adding some on and tossing it in just before eating.  Otherwise it leaches out all the water from the vegetables and the dressing becomes very runny.  If serving right away though it's fine. 

I tried this the first time with skepticism.  I don't generally like fennel; I'm not a big fan of licorice.  Even when I make this I can't snack on the fennel shavings.  Something about the lemon juice mixes with the slight licorice flavor and somehow makes it acceptable to me.  This last time I made this, I used 1 fennel bulb and julienned a jicama for a little variety. 

Also regarding the mandoline - use the slicing guard or get a fancy cut-proof glove.  I have a nice oval scar on the very tip of my middle finger where I took a slice off while not using one.  Thankfully, I was slicing things very thin and my blade was sharp, so the damage wasn't too bad.