This salad is just not one briny mouthful, there are a lot of different textures going on between the crisp onions, juicy pickles, and crunchy nuts. We tend to favor pickles that are bright with acid and low on sugar; anything labeled “half-sour” usually fits the bill. If using sweeter pickles, add a bit more vinegar and salt. And honestly, you can use whatever pickles you want in this (radishes! Green beans!).
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Ingredients
4 servings
Step 1
Preheat oven to 350°F. Toast walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once, until golden brown, 8–10 minutes. Let cool; coarsely chop.
Step 2
Meanwhile, whisk pickle brine, vinegar, mustard, honey, and red pepper flakes in a large bowl. Add onion and season with salt and pepper. Let sit to allow onion to soften slightly, at least 5 minutes and up to 15 minutes.
Step 3
Add walnuts, pickles, fennel, dill, and Parmesan to dressing and toss to coat. Transfer salad to a large shallow bowl or platter and drizzle with oil. Serve with toast to sop up the dressing if desired.
Leave a Review
Reviews (3)
Back to TopInteresting taste and texture in this salad. The crispness of the fennel and pickle with the roasted walnuts made this salad shine on a winter day. Didn’t have fresh dill so used dried and some of the fronds from the fennel. Sopping up the extra marinade with a piece of toasted bread was an excellent recommendation.
Dave Caldwell
Seattle, WA
12/23/2021
I was excited to try this recipe because I am a fan of mustard, fennel, and pickles. It was ok. There's nothing specifically wrong with the recipe, but it just left me underwhelmed.
ceratium81
Iowa
11/26/2020
Very appealing salad and easy to throw together. Made this during COVID lockdown, husband grabbed a random jar of dill pickles on the last shopping trip 2 weeks ago and we had a fennel bulb languishing in the crisper drawer. The pickles were kosher baby dills so used 6 or 7 of them and we didn't have any fresh dill so we used the fennel fronds instead. Everything else was as written. I think this dish needs a pickle you really love to make it shine. Overall this was surprisingly good, it eats very fresh and bright and serving it with bread balances out the punch of pickle brine. I would make this again but with a higher quality pickle next time.
Metric Weights
Minneapolis, MN
4/12/2020
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