I saw this salad on a restaurant menu - I didn't order it - but it stayed with me as something that I wanted to eat.
This salad ticked so many boxes: creamy, crunchy textures, and pops of flavor in every bite - tart, salty, spicy, with back notes of licorice to tie everything together. This felt like a perfect lunch salad for the fall. Somehow, though this perhaps sounds strange, this is a happy salad.
I also think that, if one removed the lettuce from the recipe, and dressed shaved mounds of fennel with the mustard dressing, topping it the with the other ingredients on individual plates, this would be an amazing fall appetizer. Something to think about. I also think that some chopped tarragon - which I did not have on hand as I made this for lunch today - would make the salad even more delicious.
I didn't measure the ingredients as I composed this salad, and neither should you. The ratios are very much up to personal preference, your preference for a specific ingredient, and how much restraint you have in the face of cheese.
Green leaf lettuce, or another hearty lettuce (red leaf would be pretty here) chiffonade cut or shredded, not torn for textural reasons.
A handful of fennel, thinly sliced on the mandoline. You could also cut the fennel into batons, which would make the anise flavor pop even more.
A handful of blackberries
A small handful of nuts. I used hazelnuts, which I crushed before adding to the salad, but walnuts would work here, as would pecans. In a pinch, use a sprinkling of sunflower seeds. You just need something in the salad with nutty flavor and crunch.
2 tsps red wine vinegar
1tsp grain mustard
1 Tbsp of olive oil
Sprinkling of flaky salt
Put the vinegar and the mustard at the bottom of your salad bowl. Whisk to combine.
Add the blackberries to the bowl. Swirl to ensure that the blackberries are coated on all sides with the mixture. Set aside while you shave the fennel and cut the lettuce.
Add the fennel and the lettuce to the bowl and toss gently. You want your salad properly dressed, without the blackberries falling apart.
Add the olive oil to the bowl along with the nuts and toss again gently.
Top with the feta and a restrained sprinkle of flaky salt and dig in.