"*" See Kitchen Notes for more information or links to special ingredients.
Slice the fennel and transfer to large bowl.
Whisk together the olive oil and red chile spice blend. Add the fennel and toss to coat with oil and spice.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
This salad has a lot of versatility to it. You can change the spices that you use on the roasted fennel, change the type of sprouts and seeds, and the balsamic (if you dare :)). It’s another one of those dishes that can be adjusted to what’s available in your area and in your pantry.
Red chile spice blend – This spice mix gives the fennel, and thus the salad, a slightly spicy and smoky flavor. If you haven’t made this blend yet, then just add some red chile powder, smoked paprika, garlic and onion powder, and salt to the olive oil.
Daikon Sprouts – The Daikon sprouts could be substituted with any type of radish sprout, a small bean sprout, or alfafa sprout, actually any sprout you enjoy. Bobby found the whole sprouts hard to manage, so I cut them into smaller pieces which worked quite well.
Cranberry Balsamic – If you don’t have a cranberry balsamic, then use your favorite balsamic and replace the pomegranate seeds with dried cranberries, or in addition to.
Cook time – We found that just 15 minutes of cook time left the fennel a bit too crunchy for our tastes; therefore, I added another 15 minutes which resulted in a slightly crunchy fennel, a more preferred texture for us. Therefore, you might want to test the fennel after 15 minutes for your preferred texture and go from there.
Recipe author: MJ of MJ's Kitchen