Blood Orange Fennel Salad

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This blood orange fennel salad 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.

Jump to:

• Savory salad
• Blood orange season and benefit
• Fennel taste
• Ingredients
• Peeling the oranges to make the monkeys
• Preparing the salad
• What to serve with savory orange salad
• More Italian winter salads
• 📋Blood Orange Fennel Salad

Savory salad

This is not a regular fruit salad, but a savory salad to serve as a side dish. Its delicate, as well as pungent flavor, is the perfect balance to grilled or barbecued meat or fish.

I like to use blood oranges (Tarocchi or Moro), not only for their gorgeous shade of ruby red that blends into the orange but also for their intense sweet and sour taste.

This salad is so festive and vibrant, you don’t need any centerpiece.

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

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.

Fennel taste

Fennel tastes like anise and you either love it or hate it. It is fresh, crunchy, and low in calories.

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

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

Ingredients

The ingredients you need are very simple:

• baby romaine leaves to use as a base
• 1 fennel
• 2 oranges
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper

There is no need for additional salad dressing as the juice from the oranges will make a natural vinaigrette.

Peeling the oranges to make the monkeys

Peel monkeys are very 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, the bottom the legs.

Follow the instructions below and you will easily carve a monkey out of your orange.

If you want to make the peel monkey, this is how you peel the oranges:

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

Preparing the salad

1. Wash and cut the fennel in half
2. Slice the fennel
3. Once the oranges are peeled, cut the oranges in slices
4. Place the washed baby romaine leaves in a salad bowl
5. Layer the oranges slices with the fennel
6. Season with salt, pepper and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil

What to serve with savory orange salad

Because its flavor is very delicate, citrusy and aniseed this salad well combines 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.

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:

• Blood Orange Fennel Salad
• Italian artichokes salad
• Puntarelle alla Romana

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