A warm, flavour-packed salad with caramelised fennel, juicy roasted grapes and golden mushrooms
If you think salads are boring, this one will change your mind. This Roasted Mushroom, Fennel & Grape Salad is all about big flavour, beautiful textures, and that perfect balance of sweet, savoury, and fresh. Roasting the vegetables unlocks deep, rich flavours, while the blistered grapes add little pops of sweetness that pair perfectly with the earthy mushrooms and aniseed notes of fennel.
It’s an ideal entertaining dish, yet simple enough for a weeknight meal when you want something a little special.
Serves
4
Ingredients
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4 medium fennel bulbs
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500g pink seedless grapes
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500g white button mushrooms, halved
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Olive oil, for cooking
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1 Tbsp olive oil
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2 garlic cloves, finely minced
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2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
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1 tsp Dijon mustard
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300g mixed leaf lettuce of choice
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Handful Italian parsley leaves
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Handful fennel fronds, for garnish
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Salt and crushed pink peppercorns, to taste
Method
Preheat the oven to 200˚C (fan on).
Slice the fennel bulbs into thick wedges and arrange them in a single layer on a roasting tray. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and roast for about 25 minutes until tender, golden, and lightly caramelised. Remove from the tray and set aside at room temperature.
Using scissors, cut the grapes into small bunches, add them to the tray, season lightly, and roast for 10 minutes until just blistered.
In a bowl, toss the mushrooms with olive oil, garlic, red wine vinegar, and Dijon mustard. Season lightly, mix well, then add to the tray with the grapes. Roast for a further 7 minutes, until the mushrooms are soft, juicy, and full of flavour.
Allow the mushrooms and grapes to cool slightly to prevent the lettuce from wilting.
To Serve
Layer the lettuce and parsley on a serving platter. Nestle the roasted fennel among the leaves, scatter the grapes, and finish with the roasted mushrooms. Drizzle over a little of the roasting juices as a natural dressing.
Garnish with fennel fronds and crushed pink peppercorns, and serve warm.