Crudités

Serves 8

A mandoline or the fine slicing disk on a food processor works best for this salad; the vegetables should be sliced almost paper thin. Eastern Standard chef Jamie Bissonnette coats the vegetables with olive oil first, rather than making a dressing of vinegar and oil. ``If you add vinegar first, it breaks the vegetables down," he says.

2	medium bulbs fresh fennel, thinly sliced (save the fronds)
1	medium red onion, thinly sliced
	Fronds from 1 bulb of fresh fennel, finely snipped
1/2 to 3/4	cup olive oil
1/2	teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4	teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
1/3	cup red wine vinegar
1	tablespoon lemon juice

1. In a large bowl, combine fennel, onion, and fennel fronds. Toss with 1/2 cup of the olive oil. Add enough of the remaining oil, 1 tablespoon at a time, to make a very light coating on the vegetables. Add salt, pepper, vinegar, and lemon juice. Toss again.

2. Cover the bowl and set it aside at room temperature for 1 hour for the flavors to mellow. Or transfer to a plastic container and refrigerate for 1 to 2 days.

3. Serve at room temperature with crusty bread. Adapted from Eastern Standard