Recipe: Make Fast Friends With Karen Martini’s Fennel and Mozzarella Salad

It would have been enough for Karen Martini to release just one new cookbook in 2026. But the beloved chef, presenter and all-round national treasure saw fit to follow up her 1000-recipe magnum opus, Cook, with not one but four new titles this year.

This springtime salad is taken from Cook: Fast (the companion to Cook: Slow), and it makes a hero out of soft, splodgy mozzarella.

“You could absolutely use fresh cow’s milk mozzarella here, but the flavour of buffalo milk mozzarella is simply divine,” writes Martini. “Its milky, sharp and slightly sour flavour works so well with the mint, chilli and broad beans, as well as the sweetness from the sultanas.”

Martini says you can serve this salad with any bread you like (“properly charred sourdough is a must” for Martini), or as an accompaniment to grilled lamb chops or chicken.

Likewise, you can tweak this recipe with a drizzle of top-shelf balsamic vinegar, or an Italian grape-must reduction like saba or vincotto. “Their complex sweetness is a perfect foil for the mozzarella’s milky richness.”

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Karen Martini’s fennel and buffalo mozzarella salad

Serves 4
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

50g green sultanas
3 tbsp sherry vinegar
2 large buffalo mozzarella balls
350–400g podded broad (fava) beans, blanched for 1 minute, refreshed and podded again
4 spring onions, white part only, finely sliced
1 long red chilli, finely sliced, or ½ tsp chilli flakes
4 mint sprigs, leaves torn
1 fennel bulb, shaved using a mandoline, fronds roughly chopped
2½ tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
flaked salt and freshly ground black pepper, to season

Method

Bring the sultanas and vinegar to a simmer in a small saucepan. Set aside for 15 minutes, then chop the sultanas.

Tear the mozzarella balls into pieces and arrange on a serving plate. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the sultanas, broad beans, spring onion, chilli, mint, fennel fronds and oil to a bowl. Season, then gently toss to combine.

Arrange the shaved fennel on a plate next to the mozzarella. Spoon the dressed salad over and serve.

This is an edited extract from Cook: Fast by Karen Martini, published by Hardie Grant (RRP $39.99).