Manchego, fennel and orange salad is one of my favourite dishes for summer entertaining. It’s a little different, but quick and easy, and there’s never any left over. The trickiest part is segmenting the oranges, and you can see how easy that is in the video below. I love cheese and I adore Sherry – and this salad using Spain’s wonderfully nutty sheep’s milk cheese and delicious Sherry vinegar is an ideal match for an ice cold glass of Fino Sherry, such as Equipo Navazos La Bota 35. Sometimes I leave the fennel out and just use a little extra endive. Endive is often sold in double bunches, I only use the small tender leaves from the base of the bunches in my Manchego, fennel, orange salad, as the larger leaves are too coarse. I save them to make scarole di Natale or a frittata. Serve this salad as a first course or as a side dish for a barbecue. Salud!

Serves 4 as a starter

Ingredients
  • 2 oranges
  • 2 heads baby fennel
  • 150g Manchego
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1½ tablespoons Sherry vinegar
  • 1½ tablespoons orange juice (reserved from segmenting oranges)
  • Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 2½ cups (100g) frisée or baby endive lettuce leaves
  • ½ cup (60g) coarsely chopped walnuts
Method
  1. Segment the oranges (see video below or learn how here).
  2. Discard the outer segments of the fennel and shave the rest finely with a sharp knife or Japanese mandolin.
  3. Shave the cheese into long thin slivers with a potato peeler or Japanese mandolin.
  4. Place oil, vinegar, orange juice, salt and pepper in a screw top jar and shake well to combine.
  5. Place lettuce and fennel in a bowl, toss with enough dressing to coat well, you may not need it all.
  6. Arrange cheese slices on a serving platter or individual plates, top with salad then orange segments and walnut pieces and serve.

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How To Segment Oranges

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