Fennel, pink grapefruit, chestnut and shanklish salad

Shanklish is a Middle Eastern cheese that is aged and crusted with za’atar. I am using it in this salad and it brings a wonderful texture to it. This salad is so refreshing with the sour and sweet pink grapefruit, that is balanced so well against the creamy chestnuts and the crunchiness of the fennel. When you buy fennel, make sure it is fresh, white and young, not too big.

Fennel, pink grapefruit, chestnut and shanklish salad

Serves 4
Prep time: 20 min
cooking time 20 min

Ingredients:
1 bulb fennel
1 pink grapefruit
6 raw chestnuts
1/2 shanklish ball
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons virgin olive oil
salt to taste

Make a cut on one side of each chestnut and place them in a pot and cover with water. Bring to boil and cook for about 20 minutes. Remove skin whilst warm, set aside a few for garnish. It is hard to remove the skin off chestnuts whilst cold. In the meantime wash the fennel and remove the bottom part and green stalks off. Cut the bulb in half and remove the tough core in the centre (picture below).

Slice the fennel as thin as you can and place in a salad bowl. Remove the peel of the pink grapefruit, then segment it and slice into pieces, put aside. Keep some aside for garnish. Slice the shanklish ball in half. then slice it very fine (picture below).

Crumble the shanklish on top of fennel and mix. When ready to serve, add lemon juice, olive oil, salt, chestnuts and grapefruit pieces. Mix together, place grapefruit and chestnut reserved for garnish on top and serve immediately.