After 5 days of total gluttony in Barcelona, I’m going light and low for a while before the Christmas festivities kick in. This smoked salmon, orange and fennel salad is fresh, tasty and feels like a treat.
These quantities make enough for a light lunch. Follow my version if you want to go lean and low or if serving to an already skinny bean then add another egg, a good drizzle of olive oil and a couple of slices of grilled, buttered sourdough.
For 2 people you will need:
- 100g smoked salmon
- A couple of eggs
- A couple of big handfuls of lettuce, spinach or roquette
- Half a bulb of fennel finely sliced
- A little finely sliced red onion
For the dressing:
- 2 oranges – one peeled and sliced finely, the other juiced after you’ve finely grated about a teaspoon of the rind and kept that aside
- Chilli flakes (to taste but I used about half a teaspoon and then sprinkled a few more on top to serve)
- A teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
- Half a teaspoon of olive oil
- 2 teaspoons of finely chopped or grated fresh ginger (I didn’t have any fresh so used half a teaspoon of ground ginger which also worked well but it would be better with fresh)
- 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
Method:
- Mix all the dressing ingredients together (keeping the orange slices to one side). You can put everything into a jar and shake. This quantity made a bit more than I need for the salad but would be nice served with other things.
- Simply layer your ingredients on the plate. Salad on the bottom, orange slices, fennel and then place the smoked salmon slices on the top. Without the egg this comes in at around 150 calories per person. If you want to make it a bit more substantial then plunge the eggs in boiling water for 7 minutes, cool and peel immediately. I had half an egg and gave the remaining 3 halves to Nigel! Sprinkle the very finely sliced red onion on the top, a few chilli flakes and a little sea salt on the eggs.
This recipe comes from Spice yourself Slim by Kalpna Woolf. It’s a great book with lots of ideas for low calorie, spicy, healthy dishes that are packed with flavour.
