Creamy Cucumber Fennel Salad Dressing

Thick, creamy dressing with the fresh flavor of cucumber and lemon, a nice bite of garlic and the bright intense flavor of fennel, this salad dressing is perfect for any savory salad, but also makes a dreamy sauce for roasted veggies, potatoes, salmon (or other fish), chicken, turkey or pork. I’ve also used it to make an absolutely divine sauce for shrimp.

The bits of green you see in this dressing are not dill … they are fennel! A gift from my sister’s garden. The pretty leafy green tops of fennel bulbs are called “fennel fronds” and they are just as bright and tasty as the bulb and seeds of this delightful plant. It’s a bit like dill, but with the sweetness and “bite” of anise.

In the past, I’ve kind of shied away from fennel, the anise-scented plant that so many people love, because I don’t like licorice. In retrospect that seems kind of silly. Why would you not try a veggie/herb because you don’t like a mass-produced candy?

Anise in a savory sense is an entirely different flavor profile, IMHO. The greens have a scent that is entirely intoxicating! My nose was in heaven as I grabbed the greens for my creamy dressing … I searched the interwebs for a creamy fennel dressing and was sadly disappointed in my search results. I found fennel vinaigrettes, but nothing along the lines of a creamy fennel dressing. I just KNEW this flavorful herb would be perfect in a creamy dressing and I was not to be swayed from my purpose. And so I just followed my intuition and started stirring things together until it tasted right.

I was soooo pleased with the results. I knew this was something I wanted to share with my family. However, the cucumber in this dressing limits its lifetime … the dressing lasts only a few days. Over time, the water seeps out of the cucumber, thinning the sauce. You can combat that a bit by salting the cucumber bits and putting them in a colander over the sink, letting the moisture drain out, then toweling off the excess moisture. Or you can leave out the cucumber and add a bit of milk to thin the dressing and then it will last longer. I love the undertone of cucumber, but the dressing is quite nice without it too. I’ve made it both ways. It was the milk-thinned version that I shared with my fam. They loved it SO much that my sister decided I needed to make it again the very next day (because we ate almost all of it at the first meal) and my dad declared that maybe he’d try growing fennel next year.

In the time I had a nice creamy thick cucumber-scented fennel sauce/dressing, I enjoyed it over multiple salads, salmon, potatoes, zucchini, fresh tomatoes … you name it, I was dipping or drizzling this addictive dressing over top!

What if you don’t have fennel fronds? Try substituting fresh dill.

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