ed. note: This recipe is from our interview with Chef Seamus Mullen. Seamus served this bright and citrus-y radish, fennel, and grapefruit salad as one of the family-style dishes at a dinner party he hosted in Santa Monica, California earlier this year. It’s made from just a handful of spring’s freshest ingredients, and comes together as so much more than the sum of its parts. Peppery radish and fennel are balanced by the richness of the avocado for a first course or side dish that pairs perfectly with roast chicken, salmon, or Seamus’s lamb meatballs.
First things first: if you’ve been holding off on purchasing a mandoline because it seemed too fancy, chef-y, or just like one more gadget than you needed in your kitchen… let this recipe be your motivation to finally click that buy button. It makes quick work of this gorgeous brimming-with-spring salad by slicing up the radish and fennel at lighting-fast speed. Just take it from Seamus and be careful: he might have used this cooking demo as an opportunity to whip out his phone and show us an old mandoline accident from years ago where he sliced off a bit of finger, and let’s just say: it ain’t pretty.
Cutting out the grapefruit supremes is a slightly more time-intensive way of prepping your citrus, but it’s worth it for the elegance of presenting this dish without any of the white pith clinging to your slices. (Here’s a little tutorial on supreming citrus fruit if you’ve never done it — it’s a perfect kitchen skill to master during your quarantine.) Plus, by letting the grapefruit juice drip into a bowl while you’re supreme-ing, you’ve already made half your vinaigrette!
Radish & Fennel Citrus Salad
Serves 4 - 6 appetizer portions
Radish, Fennel, and Grapefruit Salad is Like Spring in a Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 bunch Easter Egg radishes or watermelon radishes (or a mix)
- 1 fennel bulb
- 1 grapefruit
- 2 avocados
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- Yuzu rice wine vinegar (or regular rice wine vinegar)
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Use a mandoline to thinly slice the radishes and fennel. Reserve fennel fronds for garnish.
- Using a sharp knife, cut peel and white pith from grapefruit; discard. Working over a small bowl, cut between membranes to release segments into bowl. Squeeze the membranes to release all the juice into a bowl, then set aside.
- Slice the avocado, then layer on a plate or shallow bowl with the fennel, radishes, and grapefruit segments. Top with fennel fronds.
- Drizzle salad with 1 tablespoon olive oil, the reserved grapefruit juice, and vinegar. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Eat!
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