Shaved Fennel and Chickpea Salad with Pickled Lemon Dressing

I keep reaching for our delicious Pickled Lemon Paste. It's intense lemon flavour provides a great lift to so many dishes whether it's a stew, sauce, dressing or marinade.

This little salad is really quick and simple to prepare. The liquorice flavour of fennel is perfectly suited to carrying strong flavours and you can very easily elevate it to a full meal by adding sardines, croutons and black olives, or some grilled chicken dusted in za'atar or even simple roasted tomatoes. This recipe is a great little weapon to have in your foodie repertoire.

This dressing will keep in a jam jar in your fridge for 2-3 weeks, I always make more than I need and store the rest for another dish. It works brilliantly on warm salads - anything from roasted butternut to pan-fried courgettes.

Ingredients
Serves 4 as side salad
For the salad
2 large bulbs of fennel
1 jar of Burcol chickpeas
½ red onion, thinly sliced
½ cucumber, seeds removed and sliced
1 red chilli, thinly sliced (optional)
½ bunch fresh flat leaf parsley, stalks removed and finely chopped
½ bunch fresh dill, finely chopped

For the dressing
1 fat bulb of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon Pickled Lemon Paste
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2 tablespoon white wine vinegar
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1. To make the dressing, crush the garlic clove into a paste (I use a pestle & mortar), add the pickled lemon paste, honey and white wine vinegar and then slowly whisk in the olive oil until the dressing thickens slightly.

2. Remove the tough stalks of the fennel bulbs and slice, through the root, into quarters. Then, with the bulb firmly on your chopping board, slice each quarter as thinly as you can.

3. Place the shaved fennel into a mixing bowl, add the rest of the salad ingredients and gently mix.

4. Pour over the dressing, mix again and serve.

Enjoy! Foodies, please tag us in you make this at home and do leave a review below if you love this recipe too. Ben