Grilled Fennel Salad With Shaved Parmesan

This grilled fennel salad is the perfect summer dish and it’s really simple to make.  It goes particularly well with grilled meats.  Prepping this one is easy, but we’ll show you how to cut the fennel and get it ready for the grill in the step-by-step photos below.

Fennel is a versatile ingredient.  It can be cooked like we’ll be preparing it in this recipe or use it cold for a delicious orange fennel salad.

For this Italian fennel salad, you will need fennel, oil-cured black olives, lemons, parmesan cheese (use Parmigiano Reggiano), regular and extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and parsley.

Down below we’ll discuss options and substitutions, but for now on to the recipe.

How to make grilled fennel salad

1. Ingredients shown: lemons, fennel, block of Parmigiano Reggiano, and a small bowl of oil-cured black olives.  Rinsing the olives under cold water will remove some of the salt.
2. Begin by cutting off the stalks of the fennel like shown.  The fronds (green ends that look like dill) can be saved for a garnish or they can be used in other salads.

3. Cut off the very bottom of the fennel and with a vegetable peeler shave off any brown ends or bad spots.
4. Cut the fennel into 1/2″ thick slices.
5. Place the cut fennel in a bag or bowl and toss with a 1/4 cup olive oil and 1 tsp of kosher salt and 1/4 tsp of black pepper.
6. Grill the fennel over medium to medium-high heat until well charred on both sides.  If needed, baste a touch more olive oil onto the pieces to avoid sticking.

7. After about 10 minutes, remove the fennel into a large platter.
8. Grill the lemons for a couple of minutes until they’re nicely charred as well.

Shave a nice amount of cheese all over the salad.  Sprinkle the grilled fennel with the oil-cured black olives and drizzle a 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil all over.  Finally, add a touch of fresh parsley and a sprinkle of coarse sea salt.

All these flavors go absolutely perfectly together.  Grill enough lemons so everyone gets one to squeeze on top of their portion.  Grilling lemons makes them extra juicy and delicious!

How to prepare and cut fennel for grilling

• Trim the stalks.  Save the fronds for salads or garnish.
• Shave off any brown spots with a vegetable peeler – often not necessary.
• Trim a 1/4″ off the bottom and slice the fennel into 1/2″ thick pieces for grilling.
• For salads and other uses, fennel can be diced or shaved with tools such as a veggie peeler or mandolin.
• The fennel core, which is sometimes removed, is perfectly edible.  In fact, the whole fennel is perfectly edible.

What does fennel taste like

• Fennel has a licorice and anise taste.
• It’s delicious raw or cooked.  When raw, use it for salads where a crunchy texture is desired, like in this orange and fennel salad.  When cooked, as in this chicken thighs with fennel and cherry tomatoes recipe, the fennel will soften dramatically but retain the wonderful licorice flavor.

Substitutions and additions

• capers – Add 1-2 Tbsp of rinsed capers on top of the salad.
• red roasted peppers – Adds a punch of color to the dish and complements the grilled fennel quite well.
• cheese – Plenty of other cheeses such as Grana Padano, Pecorino Romano, and feta can be used, each giving their own unique taste.  Alternatively, remove the cheese for an awesome vegan side dish.
• anchovies – If you’re a fan of our other recipes you know I love anchovies.  Not to sound like a broken record, but they would work well here as well.  Use 2 anchovies, minced, and mix with the extra virgin olive oil.  Spoon that on top of the salad for an amazing kick!
• herbs – Fresh basil and/or thyme would work wonderfully.

More Italian salads

• Roasted Fig Salad – Roasted honey figs, greens, and gorgonzola cheese.
• The Best Green Salad – Via Carota style green salad.
• Potato Green Bean Salad – Classic potato and green beans with red wine vinaigrette.
• Radicchio Salad With Pine Nut And Orange Juice Vinaigrette – Deliciously bitter radicchio and pine nut salad.
• Italian Cauliflower Salad – Lemon, anchovy, and caper cold cauliflower salad.

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