Fennel and Gorgonzola Salad
Fennel and Gorgonzola Salad
When I was in Iowa last month, my three sisters also were in town for a visit. My sister, Mary, who resides in Seattle, raved about a unique and delicious Fennel and Gorgonzola Salad. We had to give it a try!
She also makes a version replacing half the fennel with fresh pears in the fall. I was dubious as I find the sharp anise flavor of fresh fennel a bit off-putting. But a simple lemon vinaigrette mellowed the intensity to perfection…it was incredible.
Of course, when you’re making dinner with 4 gabbing siblings in the kitchen, exact amounts of ingredients aren’t exactly calculated. I think there may have been some wine involved, too. When I made my vinaigrette with equal parts olive oil and lemon juice, I found it a bit too tart, so just drizzled a little more olive oil over the salad. These are just guidelines…adjust the quantities according to your taste. Adding walnuts would be great for some crunch or even craisins for an additional texture and a pop of color would be lovely as well. We also grilled Steak de Burgo, a traditional Iowa recipe for beef tenderloin steaks topped with garlic butter and herbs. Our dad enjoyed every morsel.
Fennel and Gorgonzola Salad
An unusual salad featuring fresh fennel, blue cheese and a simple lemon dressing
Ingredients
- 2 heads fennel, sliced very thinly
- 2 green onions, sliced
- 6 ounces crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
- 1/2 + lemon, juiced
- 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, just slightly more than the quantity of lemon juice
- Coarse sea salt, to taste
- Spring salad greens, optional
Instructions
- Combine fennel, onions and Gorgonzola. Mix lemon juice and olive oil and add to salad. Toss, and adjust dressing as needed. Sprinkled with coarse sea salt to serve.
- You may add spring mix to extend salad.
Yield: 4-6 servings
Total time: 15 minutes
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 146Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 21mgSodium: 444mgCarbohydrates: 4gFiber: 1gSugar: 2gProtein: 7g
33 Comments on “Fennel and Gorgonzola Salad”
I love fennel, and paired with the cheese it is awesome!
How fun Lizzie! I know what it’s like when I’m able to get together with my 3 sisters and it’s fun with a capital F! We laugh and talk and cook and laugh and talk some more. I love delicious, unique salads like this one, it sounds wonderful!
Lizzy,
My hubby would love this salad. He eats raw fennel like I eat celery.
Annamaria
What a GREAT picture of you and your sisters!!! The salad is perfect! Love fennel and I just happened to have picked up a pound of Gorgonzola at Costco the other day. Perfect timing!
Shhh…I’ve never had fennel before. Don’t ask where I’ve been all my life. Haha. You have so many sisters. Goodness, you are SO blessed!!
I love this type of salad Lizzy sounds delicious. (i hope make a new post today Im really busy the last days:))
mmm…gorgonzola…I totally love the salad, Liz.
Beautiful picture of your and your sweet siblings.
I yet have to try fennel…the salad looks delicious, and I love the simplicity of it.
Nice pictures of you and your sisters…
Hope you are having a lovely week Liz 😀
Wow Lizzy! What a reunion! I’m sure you gals had great fun in the kitchen!
Wonderful salad! I like! 😀
Love anything that includes GOrgonzola–such a wonderful flavor and fennel too! Looks like a great combo.
I have to admit, I’m not a huge fan of fennel but this sounds amazing 🙂
Nice post Lizzy! The salad looks delicious! Great photo of you and your sisters!
How cool to be able to hang out with your sisters and cook. I have had gorgonzola once and I’m pretty sure some wine was involved. No fennel yet, but it sounds like a great combo.
Sister love!
I really enjoy a good fennel salad and don’t find it too aniseedy. I like the idea of adding fresh pear to it.
I love fennel and think it has a subtle taste but that’s maybe just me. It is the blue cheese I have to be careful with! I like it but if it is a tad to strong I won’t like it. Took me a long time to get this far. And what a wonderful team in the kitchen. That you all visited at the same time must have been special!
You’ve inspired me to pick up fennel at the market, Liz! Somehow this sophisticated salad brings back memories of humid summers with my mom in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We avoided the hot oven and the crunch of cold greens, nuts combined with lemon, oil and cheese were perfect.
Fennel is such good stuff! I’ve really begun to use it a lot only this year, and can’t believe it took me so long. Anything Italian – and Gorgonzola sure qualifies – seems to combine so well with fennel. This is a really terrific salad – thanks so much.
Liz – I (heart) this idea 🙂 Great salad
Sounds like you had a great time Liz and it wonderful that you got to spend some time with you siblings!!!
i bet that salad tasted out of this world delicious with the fennel flavor against the cheese. I love it
What a great recipe for this fennel lover. Also a very great photo of the sibs. Priceless.
I’ve been having a craving for fennel recently – this sounds absolutely perfect!! Love all the flavors in here!
I love Gorgonzola cheese and admit I’m one who hasn’t done much with fennel so this is on my list of must tries; sounds simple and delish; perfect for these dog days of summer.
Recipes like this that are just a guideline are my favorite. It’s all about what you like! Fennel has been sounding really good lately, but I haven’t been sure what to do with it – until now 🙂
Such a sweet looking picture. I am glad you all got together and had fun.
The salad does look good with gorgonzola, good combo.
I wish I incorporated fennel more but whenever I do , I enjoy it. In fact I soak fennel for 10 minutes in water and then add it to my salad, it works well too.
I love fennel!! Thanks for the recipe! Perfect for summer!
Fennel! Why do I always forget about that?! This sounds crazy good!
I’ve never thrown fresh fennel in a salad before, sounds really nice with the gorgonzola, looks like you ladies had a great time! 🙂
Aww… nice to see your sisters. I bet there was some wine and gabbing going on… I love cooking with my family.
What a fresh and tasty looking salad! I didn’t always like fennel either but it has really grown on me in the last year or so and I really adore it in salads. Love the Gorgonzola in here, everything sounds wonderful:)
I have never tried fresh fennel, I love the dried version which we use frequently in Indian cooking, but somehow I have always felt that I would not like the fresh one. After reading this recipe I am tempted to try! 🙂
I still haven’t had fresh fennel… Another thing for my list of must tries! Bet you all had a great visit:@)
I love gorgonzola on salads! This looks so fresh and adding pears sounds equally delicious.