Fabulous Fennel Salade

Chocolate Vinaigrette Dressing Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups extra virgin cold pressed olive oil
5 tbsp. balsamic vinaigrette vinegar
4 tbsp. maple syrup
1/4 tsp. Himalayan pink salt
1 tbsp. grated ginger (microplane grater)
1 cup organic cacao powder
1 tsp. red pepper powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 cup filtered water

Directions:
Place all of the ingredients into a Vitamix and blend until creamy smooth. Take 3 dehydrator trays with teflex sheets. Take the Vitamix container and pour the dressing evenly onto the center of each tray. Each of the trays should have a nice circle in the center. Take a Mercer Culinary Spatula (M35601. Begin your design at the center of the circle. Using the spatula like a paint brush, begin your design by swirling the spatula from the center of the circle to the outside of the circle and then back toward the center of the circle. Go all the way around the circle forming a design. Make sure not to spread your design out across the whole tray because it will become too thin and will not dehydrate properly. Repeat the procedure for all 3 trays. Refer to the photo. Place the trays into the dehydrator at 115 degrees for 8 hours. Flip the dressing over onto 3 other trays with teflex sheets. You will have to peel the dressing off carefully during this process. Place the trays back into the dehydrator at 115 degrees for another 12 hours.

Candied Pecans:
Ingredients:
3 cups raw soaked and dehydrated pecans
½ cup maple syrup
1 tbsp. cinnamon powder
¼ tsp. Himalayan sea salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
Place the syrup, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt into a measuring cup. Whisk it all together. Place the pecans into a large mixing bowl. Pour the sauce over the pecans and mix together with a spoon. Take two dehydrator trays with teflex sheets. Spread the pecans evenly over the sheets. Make sure they are lying flat with plenty of room to breathe. Place into the dehydrator at 115 degrees for 8 hours.

Directions:
You will need to detach 4 large outside leaves with fronds. In order to take these off without breaking them, take a very sharp paring knife and cut just inside the outside leaf all the way around. Detach the very outside leaf, pulling the inside away very carefully. Repeat the procedure for the other leaves. Take one of the leaves that you just removed. Cut the stem just below the joint where the fronds and leaves divide. Repeat the procedure for all 4 leaves.

The stem will measure approximately 2 to 3 inches. Cut the stem in half lengthwise, beginning at ¼ inch up from the bottom portion of the leaf through the top of the stem. Then cut each half in half again. Repeat the procedure until the stem is divided up into 16 pieces. Turn the leaf and inspect the bottom. If there is any brown around the bottom, cut it off with your knife by making a very thin slice all the way around the bottom of the leaf. Look at the vertical lines on the leaf itself. Starting approximately one inch below the stem, make vertical cuts all the way around the leaf. Refer to the photo. Place the leaf into a large bowl of ice water. Repeat this for one more leaf. Set the bowl aside.
Make sure to save the other 2 uncut leaves for use in the next step of the recipe.

Salad Ingredients:
1 package of steamed and peeled baby beets (Trader Joe’s)
½ cup candied pecans
3 cups organic baby spinach (julienne sliced)
1 orange (zested)
Remaining fennel plant
1 ATECO 1 inch round food cutter
¼ cup organic dried cherries

Directions:
Take the beets. Core the beet with the round food cutter. Repeat this procedure for 3 beets. Take the cylinders that you just took out of the beet. Slice them into ¼” slices. Take your knife and cut each slice in half. Repeat until each slice is cut into 6 pieces. Set aside. Take the fennel leaves and cut them into 10 round pieces with the same food cutter. Take your knife and cut each round of fennel into 6 pieces. Set aside. Take the orange and zest the whole orange. Take the dried cherries and chop them into small pieces. Set aside. Take the spinach leaves 4 at a time and stack them on top of each other. Roll them lengthwise into a roll. Take your knife and slice the roll into thin slices from the top down creating julienne spinach slices. Refer to the photos. Repeat the procedure until all of the spinach leaves are sliced. Set aside. Chop the candied pecans into small pieces.

Assembly:
Take the fennel out of the ice water and pat it dry with a paper towel. Set aside. Make sure it is completely dry before you start the assembly process.
Take 2 decorative white plates. Taking a thin cake spatula, lift off some of the design from one tray and place it onto one side of a plate. Since the dressing is delicate, it will most likely break of itself. Just place it artistically onto both plates in whatever design you choose. Set the plates aside. Make sure that you have enough dressing left over to complete the recipe. Take the remaining dressing and place it into the Vitamix. Blend until creamy smooth. Set aside.

Take the fennel from the paper towel and set it decoratively onto the plates. Make sure you leave enough room for the salad to flow. Refer to the photo. Take the julienned spinach and place it into the fennel bowl. Wrap it around so it flows on the plates. Refer to the photo. Sprinkle the remaining ingredients decoratively over the spinach on both plates. Take a Mercer culinary plating spoon. Pour some dressing into the spoon from the Vitamix. Make a swirling trail of dressing all the way down the flow of spinach. Repeat to taste. Take some fennel leaves. Place them decoratively around the top of the spinach flow and in the center of the stem to create a flower. Refer to the photo.

Makes 2 servings
Note: This recipe is not 100% raw because of the beets.