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Before moving to Italy, I’ll be honest…..I never even saw a fennel bulb! Sure, I’ve seen fennel seeds……but whole fennel bulbs by the dozens? Never. I later learned that Italians love fennel, called “finocchio” (pronounced ‘fin-noh-key-oh’). As a matter of fact, this tasty root is actually served all by itself, in raw form, AFTER a meal to munch on! Imagine my surprise the first time I ate fennel at my in-laws, where a bowl full of sliced fennel bulbs were piled high on the table and everyone dived in and started chomping away! Aren’t you supposed to cook them, I wondered? We are supposed to just munch on them like bunnies eating carrots? And when the entire family, I mean the entire family, gathers around the table, each one chomping on a fennel bulb, you then realize there must be a good reason for this as Italians know their food. Now, I know what you are thinking….”Why the raw fennel after a meal?” Ahhhh, I’m glad you asked. It’s all about digestion. If you’ve read my other recipe posts, you’ll see that I mention the word digestion a lot =) Yes, it’s because we need so much help digesting the amount of food we eat!  So next time you invite the family over, just grab some fennel bulbs and if anyone asks, mention “digestion”…..they will thank you for it later =)

For now though, here’s a simple, refreshing salad you can put together in minutes using fennel…..

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Ingredients:

-1\2 Small fennel bulb (sliced, white part only….save the green part for soups =)

-4 Large tomatoes (chopped)

-1\4 Cup pitted Greek or Italian olives (chopped)

– 1 TBSP Italian parsley (diced)

-2 TBSP Olive oil (good quality)

-Salt, to taste

Mix all ingredients together and allow to sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes before serving.

Buon Appetito!

Wanita =)