Last weekend was great, the sun was out all over London and the weather was slightly crisp. I love these February days in London when I still have to wear layers of clothes but somehow I can’t leave the house without my sunglasses. This put me in such a good mood that I decided to cook something summery and by that I mean, light and colourful!

Remember the fennel and orange tagine I made last year? This tagine was so tasty and delightful, it made me love fennel even more! Ever since, I’ve been thinking about a potential fennel and orange salad but I never actually made it. I finally found the inspiration to make it last weekend to celebrate the sunny and crisp days ahead of us.

I tried to keep the salad pretty simple to preserve the taste of the shaved fennel and orange segments; I added plenty of herbs, a bit of red onions and walnuts. Simple, light and full of flavours.

I paired my salad with traditional Moroccan chicken kebabs (or skewers). The kebabs are flavoured with plenty of garlic, turmeric and powdered ginger.

The salad and the kebabs work perfectly together, I recommend having them with some couscous or quinoa if you are very hungry. Let the sun shine in your kitchen and get cooking!

Moroccan Chicken Kebabs

INGREDIENTS

Serves 4

500g boneless chicken breast
Juice of a lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon finely chopped garlic, about 2 cloves
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon salt or more to taste
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ ground black pepper

METHOD

• Slice the chicken breasts into bite-sized chunks and transfer in a large bowl.

• Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together giving them a good stir.

• Cover the bowl and place in the fridge to marinate for 2 to 24 hours.

• When ready to serve, thread the pieces of chicken onto skewers.

• Put a pan (or a chargrilled pan) on high heat and wait for it to become very warm.

• Place the skewers on the pan and cook for 5 minutes on each side, turning every now and then to get nice and golden on all sides. Serve warm.

Orange and Fennel Herb Salad

INGREDIENTS

Serves 4

2 large fennel bulbs (600 gr)
2 oranges, segmented
1 red onion finely chopped
80g walnuts, roughly chopped
20g fresh mint leaves
30g fresh coriander roughly torn
30g fresh parsley roughly torn

For the dressing

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

• Discard the stalks and the dill from the fennel bulbs and very finely slice the fennel bulbs (use a mandolin if you have one). Transfer the sliced fennel in a large salad bowl.

• Segment the oranges. Segmenting oranges is a lot of fun, take a look here. (Keep the juice you retained from the oranges for another recipe or just drink it, you won't need it for this recipe)

• Add the orange segments, red onions, walnuts, mint leaves, coriander and parsley to the sliced fennel.

• In a small bowl, stir all the dressing ingredients together until smooth.

• When ready to serve, pour the dressing over the salad. Gently toss everything together and serve immediately.