Sometimes when you are serving a big heavy meal, say, at Thanksgiving or Christmas, you need an appetizer that will satisfy people’s hunger without filling them up, ruining their appetite, or taking up precious calorie allotments they’re saving for things like Rita’s Sausage Stuffing and gravy. Seriously, one must leave room for these things. This simple appetizer is another one learned from my in-laws, the Cinquinos, and is something my father-in law’s mother from Abruzzi used to make. Nothing could be easier, and I promise there will be none left and no regrets.
Ingredients:
- Bulbs of organic fennel
- Good olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
Directions:
You can do this two ways: One with the olive oil, salt, and pepper drizzled over cut-up fennel; the other with the fennel cut up with the olive oil mixture in a bowl for dipping. It all depends on what you prefer.
- Wash the fennel and cut the end off and slice it from the top down and section like quarters. You want the pieces to be easy to pick up and munch on.
- Place the fennel in a nice serving dish and then either sprinkle on top with good olive oil, salt, and pepper or in a dish on the side, adding the olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Honestly, I am not going to give you measurements. This is one you would have a hard time screwing up. If you are cutting up more bulbs, you will need more of the other stuff.
Fennel is one of those vegetables that seem a bit odd if you aren’t used to it, but think of it as round celery that has a hint of licorice flavor to it and you’ll be fine. My kids all love it.
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Simple enough. Thanks Maria. I love fennel with slices of oranges in a salad with butter and romaine lettuces and a citrus vinaigrette, so this should be good with a crisp, bland cracker, (maybe water crackers) so that you will be able to taste the fennel. What do you think if a little fresh,organic lemon juice was squeezed into this mixture?
Fennel a great choice… It’s nice to have something off the normal venue of taste. Thanks again for the post.
Although we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here in England, hearing about it always whets the appetite for our own celebrations a few weeks later at Christmas, traditionally it’s turkey for the main meal.
I’m liking the fennel recipe and will try that this week.