I reckon rocket takes its fashionable status as the salad leaf of the moment with a pinch of salt. After all, it's been there before: in 14th-century England, rocket was fashionable and widely planted, before falling out of favour for several hundred years. At this time of year, as the rocket comes steadily out of polytunnels into our shops and markets, its pepperiness is not as pronounced as it will be later on, and the greater subtlety of early rocket is pleasing. Its clean-tasting freshness makes it a good partner for that other early crop, radishes, and here the two are matched with fennel in a lovely salad, adapted from an idea which matched the fennel and radish with dandelion. I prefer it this way.
Rocket, Radish and Fennel Salad
1/2 lemon
1 red onion
olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
5 radishes
rocket leaves (enough to fill half a salad bowl)
1 fennel bulb
Wash and dry the rocket leaves (if you have organic leaves, just pick them over and dust them with a cloth). Peel a few strips of zest from the lemon and chop into fine dice, then juice the lemon. Chop the red onion very fine, and place in a salad bowl with the lemon zest and lemon juice, and macerate for about 20 minutes. Whisk in as much olive oil as you need in order to create a very fresh dressing, and season with salt and pepper. Slice the fennel very thinly indeed on a mandolin, having discarded any bruised outer layers. Slice the radishes thinly on the mandolin. Just before serving, toss all the ingredients with enough of the dressing to just coat them. Serve immediately.