Italian Fennel Salad With Blood Orange Recipe

This Italian fennel salad with blood orange is originally from Sicily where juicy and sweet oranges grow under the hot sun of the Mediterranean Sea. This is a savory fruit salad where the citrus of the oranges is contrasted by the aniseed fennel, creating the perfect side dish for grilled meat or fish. The beautiful color combination of the scarlet red blood orange and the candid white crunchy fennel make this fennel orange salad a perfect showpiece for the center table.

Jump to:

• Fennel taste
• Ingredients
• Preparing the salad
• What to serve with this salad
• Peeling the oranges to make the monkeys
• Blood orange season and benefit
• FAQ
• More Italian winter salads
• More recipes with oranges
• 📋Italian Fennel Salad With Blood Orange Recipe

This is not a regular orange salad recipe but a savory winter salad to serve as a side dish.

Its delicate and pungent flavor is the perfect balance to grilled or barbecued meat or fish.

I like to use blood oranges (Tarocchi or Moro) for their gorgeous shade of ruby red that blends into the orange and their intense sweet and sour taste.

This simple salad is so festive and vibrant that you don't need any centerpiece.

Add some extra fun to the table by making monkeys with orange peels and having them climb the salt and pepper mills.

For more winter salad recipes you can find: Puntarelle alla Romana, and Italian raw artichoke salad.

Fennel taste

Sicilian fennel has an anise flavor; you either love or hate it. It is fresh, low in calories, and with a crunchy texture.

In Italy, we sometimes eat it at the end of the meal as it helps digestion and leaves a pleasant fresh taste in your mouth.

If you cook it, its sweet anise taste diminishes, making it smooth and creamy.

Ingredients

For this delicious salad, you need simple, fresh ingredients:

• baby romaine lettuce leaves to use as a base
• 1 fresh fennel
• 2 blood oranges: I like to use blood oranges for their gorgeous color and flavors. You can also use navel oranges. I wouldn't use Vanilla oranges as they are flavorless. I haven't met anyone who likes them
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt and black pepper

There is no need for additional salad dressing, as the juicy orange will make a natural vinaigrette.

If you can buy organic oranges, add the orange zest for additional flavor.

Preparing the salad

1. Wash and cut the fennel bulb in half
2. Cut the fennel into thin slices
3. Once the oranges are peeled and the white skin removed, cut the oranges into round slices
4. Place the washed baby romaine leaves in a salad bowl
5. Layer the orange slices with the thinly sliced fennel
6. Season with salt, pepper and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil

What to serve with this salad

Because its flavor is delicate, citrusy, and aniseed, this wonderful salad combines well with either meat or fish.

In the video, I serve it with duck breast a l'orange and gratin dauphinoise, a perfect combination for a special dinner.

You can also serve it with Sea bream cooked in salt, cod baked with potatoes or barbecued meat like Brazilian picanha or a veal Milanese.

Peeling the oranges to make the monkeys

Peel monkeys are easy to do and so much fun, especially if you have children. It is definitely worth taking a few minutes to make them.

Look carefully at the picture; the top of the orange is the head and the arms, and the bottom is the legs.

If you want to make the peel monkey, use a very sharp knife and follow the instructions:

1. Carve the head on top of the orange making a round, leaving a part uncut for the neck
2. Leave some space and carve another circle for the arms, leaving a part uncut for the body
3. Carve vertically from under the armpit the left side of the body
4. Make another round at the bottom of the orange for the legs, leave a part uncut for the body
5. Carve the right side of the body from the leg up to the armpit
6. Remove the bottom of the orange on a round shape

7. Remove the peel between the legs and the arms
8. Gently remove the peel monkey from the orange
9. Cut the legs circle in half so the monkey can climb
10. Position the monkey over a bottle or salt and pepper mill

Blood orange season and benefit

There are different kinds of blood orange, the most common growing in Italy (mainly in the south: Sicily, Calabria, and Puglia) are Tarocco, Moro, Sanguinello.

They mature in December and you can find them in the markets from January to March, or even Spring depending on the type.

The red color is due to a high content of anthocyanins which are also present in blueberry, raspberry, black rice, and black soybean.

Anthocyanins have antidiabetic, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and anti-obesity effects, as well as prevention of cardiovascular diseases as described in the article below from the US National Institute of Health:

Anthocyanidins and anthocyanins: colored pigments as food, pharmaceutical ingredients, and the potential health benefits

I eat them just because they are my favorite oranges.

FAQ

More Italian winter salads

Italian salads are always very simple, made with seasonal produce, "they" are the star of the plate.

Winter is the season for artichokes, oranges, puntarelle, fennels. So those are the salads you will find on an Italian table during the cold weather:

• Italian raw artichokes salad
• Puntarelle alla Romana

More recipes with oranges

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