Finnochio Salad

Gee...I'm on a roll today with two posts. Anyway, my stomach's growling, I'm hungry, and for some reason I'm thinking about the finocchio I bought at the grocery store yesterday. I figure that maybe if I write about food it will make the hunger subside a little.

Finocchio ( pronounced fin-'oh-kee-oh), or fennel, is an anise-flavored vegetable that is very popular in Italian cooking. A finocchio, or fanuch for the N'italian afficianado, is also slang for a gay person, and if anyone is interested in Italian slang they can check out my earlier posts in the above links, but I'm not going there tonight. Tonight it's about the food.

One of my favorite ways to fix finnocchio is to make a salad with it...very simple...very Italian. Don't even think about saying 'eye-talian or my grandmother will rise from the dead and put the evil eye on you.

Badabing's Finocchio Salad

1 bulb finocchio
1/2 fresh lemon
handful of baby arugula, stems removed
Parmagiano Reggiano cheese
Extra virgin olive oil

Cut the finocchio crosswise in extremely thin slices, best done using a mandoline (no, not the kind you play like a guitar...that's a mandolin). The thinner the better.

Put the finocchio slices in a salad bowl, add arugula & lemon juice, and toss. Add enough olive oil to coat lightly and toss again.

Top with parmagiano shavings...that's shavings and not grated...and don't even think about substituting canned or jarred grated cheese...and serve. Finito!!

Oh yeah...my stomach's growling even more than when I first started this post. Maybe a little wine will help...for medicinal purposes of course.

Badaboom Badabing...