Shaved Fennel and Edamame Salad with Radish, Hemp, and Dill
Fennel shaved thin and crisped in cold water, tossed with warm edamame, sliced radish, arugula, and a great deal of dill in a sharp lemon and mustard dressing, finished with hemp and toasted pumpkin seeds.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
I built this salad around the fifteen minutes when fennel is at its best, which is right after you shave it and drop it into cold water. It goes crisp and pale and loses the aggressive edge that a thick slice of fennel can have, and it stays that way through dressing and tossing in a way that lettuce never manages. Edamame is the other half of the idea. Cooked from frozen in four minutes and tipped into the bowl while still warm, it takes the dressing on better than a cold bean does and it gives this salad enough substance to be lunch rather than a side.
The dressing is deliberately sharp. Two and a half tablespoons of lemon juice against two of olive oil is more acid than most vinaigrettes carry, and it needs to be, because fennel and edamame are both mild and sweet and would go soft-spoken without it. Dijon mustard holds the two together so it clings rather than sliding to the bottom of the bowl. Salt it at the end, taste it on a piece of fennel rather than off the spoon, and add more lemon before you add more oil if it tastes like it is missing something.
Long afternoons are the reason I pack this, since nothing in it weighs you down in the middle of one. It holds up for a couple of days in the refrigerator, which is unusual for a salad, because fennel and radish are sturdy and only get better sitting in acid. Keep the arugula and the seeds out until you are ready to eat, and it goes into a jar or a lidded box beautifully. In the summer I double the dill and eat it with cold fennel fronds torn over the top.
Ingredients
- 18 oz frozen shelled edamame (about 3 1/3 cups)
- 2 medium fennel bulbs, trimmed, cored, and shaved paper-thin, fronds reserved
- 8 radishes, sliced into thin coins
- 4 cups arugula, loosely packed
- 4 scallions, sliced thin on a long diagonal
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
- 7 tbsp hemp seeds
- 1/4 cup hulled pumpkin seeds
- 2 1/2 tbsp lemon juice, from 1 large lemon
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- Crisp the fennel: Trim the stalks from the fennel bulbs, halve them, and cut out the solid core. Shave the halves as thin as you can on a mandoline or with a sharp knife, then drop the shavings into a bowl of cold water with a few ice cubes and leave them for 10 minutes. They will curl and stiffen and lose their sharp edge. Reserve any feathery fronds for the top.
- Cook the edamame: Bring a saucepan of water to a boil, salt it lightly, and add the frozen edamame. Cook for 4 minutes from the moment the water returns to a boil, until the beans are bright green and tender with a slight bite at the center. Drain them well and spread them on a plate so the steam escapes rather than sitting on them.
- Toast the pumpkin seeds: Put the pumpkin seeds in a small dry skillet over medium heat and shake them for 3 minutes, until they puff, pop, and smell nutty. Tip them straight onto a cold plate. Left in the pan they carry on cooking and turn bitter within a minute.
- Make the dressing: Whisk the lemon juice, dijon mustard, salt, and black pepper together in the bottom of a large serving bowl, then pour in the olive oil in a thin stream while whisking until it thickens slightly and looks glossy. It should taste noticeably sharp on its own, since the vegetables will soften it considerably.
- Toss and finish: Drain the fennel and dry it well in a towel or salad spinner, then add it to the bowl with the warm edamame, radish, scallions, and dill. Toss thoroughly with your hands so every shaving is coated. Fold the arugula through at the last moment, scatter the hemp seeds and toasted pumpkin seeds over the top, and serve while the edamame still has some warmth in it.
Variations
- Apple and walnut: Add a tart apple cut into matchsticks and a handful of toasted walnuts for an autumn version with more crunch and a sweeter edge.
- Chile and lime: Swap the lemon for lime, add a thinly sliced fresh chile, and finish with cilantro in place of the dill for a sharper, hotter bowl.
- Crisped tofu on top: Brown eight ounces of cubed firm tofu in a hot pan until golden on all sides and fold it in warm, which makes this a heavier plate for a cold day.
- Shaved kohlrabi: Use one large kohlrabi in place of one of the fennel bulbs for a sweeter, more cabbage-like crunch.
- Tahini dressing: Whisk two tablespoons of tahini into the lemon and mustard with a splash of water for a creamy dressing that coats the fennel more heavily.
Storage & Leftovers
Dressed and without the arugula, this keeps two days in a sealed container in the refrigerator. The fennel and radish stay crisp in the acid and the edamame takes on more of the lemon overnight, so day two is arguably better than day one. Add the greens and the seeds when you serve it.
For packed lunches, build it in a jar with the dressing on the bottom, then the edamame, then the fennel and radish, with the arugula and seeds in a twist of paper on top. Turn it out into a bowl at the table and toss. Everything stays where it belongs and nothing wilts on the way.
This one does not freeze. Fennel and radish both collapse into something limp and watery after thawing, and the whole point of the bowl is the snap. If you want to get ahead, shave the fennel and slice the radish the night before and keep them submerged in cold water in the refrigerator.
Notes & Tips
- Ice water is not optional: Ten minutes in cold water is what turns shaved fennel from sharp and chewy into crisp and sweet. It is the single step that makes people who think they dislike fennel change their minds.
- Dry the fennel properly: Water clinging to the shavings dilutes the dressing and leaves a puddle at the bottom of the bowl. A salad spinner or a clean towel and thirty seconds of patting is enough.
- Add the edamame warm: Beans absorb dressing while they are still hot. Tossed in straight from the colander they carry lemon all the way through, where cold ones only wear it on the outside.
- Toss with your hands: Tongs push shaved fennel into clumps. Hands separate the strands and let you feel when everything is evenly coated, which takes about twenty seconds.
- Hold the arugula back: Peppery greens go limp within minutes of meeting acid. Folding them in at the very end keeps them alive against everything else in the bowl.
- Taste on a leaf, not off the spoon: A dressing tastes far sharper on its own than it does on food. Dip a shaving of fennel in it and season from there, and you will stop over-oiling salads.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Edamame, hemp seeds, and the raft of crisp vegetables underneath them make this bowl work. The beans carry most of the protein and a good share of the fiber, the seeds add protein and fat that make a cold salad satisfying, and the fennel, radish, and arugula bring the volume and the water that make it feel like a proper plate of food.
- Edamame are soybeans picked young, which is why they stay bright green and sweet, and they are unusual among beans for delivering protein and fiber in the same mouthful along with folate and potassium.
- Fennel eaten crisp and cold keeps the anise perfume that cooking softens, and it brings vitamin C and potassium along with a soft, well-tolerated fiber.
- Hemp seeds have a mild, nutty flavor and a texture somewhere between a seed and a soft grain, and a few spoonfuls carry a real amount of protein, magnesium, and the plant form of omega-3 fats.
- Dill, lemon, mustard, and radish are what keep this bowl awake. The dill is grassy, the mustard binds and bites, the lemon runs through everything, and the radish gives a peppery snap that lands after the sweetness of the fennel.
- As you eat, pay attention to the snap of the fennel and the radish against the softness of the beans, and let the sharpness of the lemon slow you down, since a cold, crunchy lunch is easy to rush through without tasting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a mandoline?
It helps enormously, but a sharp knife and a little patience will do. What matters is thinness, because fennel cut thick stays tough and tastes strongly of anise, while shavings you can nearly see through go sweet and delicate. Halve the bulb and lay it flat on the board for a stable surface to cut against.
Can I use edamame in the pod?
Yes, though you will need about triple the weight and a few minutes of popping the beans out. Cook them in the pod for five minutes, cool them under running water, and squeeze the beans into a bowl. The shelled kind sold frozen is the reason this salad takes under half an hour.
My fennel tastes too strong. What now?
Slice it thinner and give it longer in ice water, which pulls a surprising amount of that intensity out. Fennel also mellows in acid, so if you are still not sold on it, dress the fennel on its own ten minutes before you build the rest of the salad and let the lemon do the work.
What can I use in place of dill?
Flat-leaf parsley and mint are both good here, used in the same quantity, and tarragon in a smaller amount plays beautifully against fennel. Whichever you choose, chop it just before it goes in, since soft herbs lose their perfume within about twenty minutes of meeting a knife.