Winter colour

It's nearly the end of March and winter persists here in London. It is relentlessly grey with only a few cherry blossoms here and there that managed to forge their way into the freezing world. So I got just a little excited when I came across some beautiful blood oranges at Borough Market. I've never had blood oranges before and I have to admit I'm not the biggest fan of oranges - copious amounts of orange flavoured paracetamol after I had my tonsils out as a child tainted them for me. Blood oranges may have just restored my faith! They look amazing. They can vary in colour from deep red (hence the blood) through to a much paler peach colour, so it's like a lucky dip. Mine were deep orange with veins of red giving a similar effect to when red dye is dropped in water. The flavour is sweet; much less tart than the ordinary orange.

I decided to make a winter salad with my oranges - something to provide a little colour and freshness to this dreary Sunday. Fennel and orange is a classic Italian pairing which I thought would go nicely with the fish we were having.

Olives add a saltiness which seemed to balance the whole thing out. The finished product was a deliciously fresh, sharp salad that was the perfect complement to the fish. Even Dave, previous fennel sceptic enjoyed! It certainly brightened up my Sunday.

Recipe:

2 or 3 blood oranges

1 fennel

handful of pitted black olives

lemon

olive oil

salt + pepper

Cut the top and bottom off the oranges and slice off the peel and pith. Run the knife in between the segments to separate. I took the skins off each one but this is quite fiddly so alternatively you could just thinly slice.

Chop the fennel into very fine slices. Arrange fennel, orange segments and olives on a platter and squeeze over the juice of half a lemon. Drizzle over olive oil and give it a pinch of salt and pepper.

Done - how easy is that?!

Serves 2