This is not the first time I post a fennel salad recipe on this blog. I started eating this dish quite frequently during the summer I spent in Bologna. The city gets so hot that you only feel like having salads. Fennel is both refreshing and has a satiating effect.

Luckily for me, I can find it at Gadis Supermercados any time of the year, so it’s not only in summer that I use it for salads.  

Although the proper way of having it is with oranges, this salad is a typical Italian summer dish with a twist: adding anchovies, capers and lemon zest.

One useful trick is to prepare the salad hours before eating it, so it’s more tender.

INGREDIENTS for two people

Big fennel or two small ones

4 tablespoons of capers in olive oil

One can of anchovies (10-12)

Zest of half a lemon

METHOD

Use a mandoline slicer or a sharp knife to cut the fennel and then place in a bowl. Add the capers with the olive oil they come in. Combine. Cut each anchovies into three and put them in the bowl, together with the lemon zest. I don’t add salt because there’s a lot of salt in anchovies and capers.  

Mix well and let it stand for a while, so the fennel absorbs all that olive oil and lemon flavor.

Serve and buon appetito!