Fennel, leek and sweet potato salad

(serves 2)

In recent years i've noticed a bit of a fuss around fennel, an interesting bulb cousin of celery that shares it's liquorice taste and is high in Vitamin C. My sister has convinced me to try it a few times, mostly roasted as that usually makes everything taste great but i can't say i was converted. After seeing it at the greengrocer the other week, i thought, why not take a step out of my comfort zone and go all out and try a raw fennel salad. I was very pleasantly surprised and have to say i prefer this to cooked fennel! Soaking it in a citric juice for about 10 minutes just softens and sweetens it enough to make it quite pleasant and refreshing!

Prep time: 15 min

Cooking time: 45 min 

Ingredients

300g chicken breast/thigh fillet

1 bulb fennel

2 leeks

1 medium sweet potato

½ punnet of cherry tomatoes

Dressing

Olive oil

Juice of ½ lemon

Juice of ½ lime

1 tsp caster sugar

Salt, pepper, to taste

6-8 sprigs of parsley, finely chopped

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C.

2. Peel the sweet potato and cut into thick slices (1cm x 3cm). Toss in olive oil, salt and pepper and roast for 20-30 minutes until cooked through.

3. Cut the leek into thick slices diagonally and toss in olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 15-20 minutes until soft.

4. Chop the chicken breast into thirds and place in a pot of boiling water on medium-high heat. Allow it to sit on the stove for 2-3 minutes to reheat the water, then remove from the heat and sit for 15 minutes. Remove from the water and check if it is cooked through.

5. Meanwhile, finely slice the fennel and dress with half the dressing. Allow it to sit for 10 minutes.

6. Dress the chicken with the other half of the dressing.
7. Assemble the salad by combining the fennel with the cherry tomatoes, sweet potato, leek and chicken.