I don't like anise. I don't drink arak, raki, or pastis, and liquorice is the one sweet I'd be happy to never see again. So I have no good explanation for why Bish-Bash, which is essentially a bowl of fennel, is one of my favourite salads.


It's just orange and fennel, that's the whole thing. However, over the years I've changed it a bit to suit my palate better. A red grapefruit went in for the bitterness, then a lemon because I like sour more than most people do, and dill, which is my favourite herb by far.


The other reason I keep making it is that supreming citrus is fun. It's also one of those jobs that tells you straight away whether your knife is sharp, because with a dull one you're not cutting the segments out, you're tearing them, and you end up with a bowl of pulp and a lot of juice on the board.

Ingredients

2 Heads of fennel
1 Red grapefruit
1 Orange
1 Lemon
A handful of dill

For the Vinaigrette

The citrus juice
Olive oil
Sea salt
Black pepper

Preparation

1. Cut the Top and tail the grapefruit, lemon and the orange, stand each one up, and cut the peel off in strips following the curve of the fruit, taking the pith with it. Then cut each segment away from the membrane and let it drop into the bowl. When you're done, squeeze what's left of the membranes hard over a second bowl.

2. Cut the Fennel in half through the root, take the core out, slice to your liking, I like them around 2-3mm thick so there's still crunch even when they've been sitting for a while. Dill separated and finely chopped.

3. Take the juice you collected, add the same amount of olive oil, salt and pepper, if you feel you need more dressing add juice from any citrus but the lemon, shake it in a jar to emulsify.

4. Put the Fennel, citrus segments and dill in a bowl, dress it and mix.