Gardener’s Pie with a Cucumber & Fennel Salad

Tonight’s dinner was inspired by a dear friend Steve’s Cucumber & Fennel Salad combined with a Shepherd’s Pie recipe found here (i’ve renamed it ‘gardener’s pie’): http://www.ivu.org/recipes/main/lentil-shepherds.html (I definitely added mushrooms-about 2 cups chopped portobellos, mixed frozen veggies and lots of fresh thyme. Also added Tofutti cream cheese to make the potatoes extra creamy, and a few dashes of hot sauce in the lentil mixture)

Garnished with paprika and fresh thyme sprigs.

I decided to pair this comforting dish with something light and fresh. I was reminded of my friend Steve’s Cucumber & Fennel salad and knew it would be perfect! It’s simple and flexible:

1 Fennel bulb w/ tops thinly sliced and about 1 cup of the tops chopped

1 long english cucumber thinly sliced on diagonal

2 lemons juiced and zested

about 1 tbsp olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

Now just layer….cucumber, fennel, lemon juice, lemon zest, 1/2 of the olive oil, some fennel tops and salt and pepper.

Repeat and then let it sit for a bit and enjoy!

The zest really makes this dish-don’t skip!