Fennel Salad
Salad

Ingredients for 4 people

3 or 4 large ?male? fennel bulbs,
2 big oranges, if it?s possible choose  the ?Tarocchi? type
1 hectogram of Gaeta olives
2 spoons of extra virgin olive oil
2 pinches of salt
2 pinches of black pepper

Carefully wash the fennel and cut them lengthwise into short pieces of about one centimeter; put them into a salad bowl.  Peel the oranges and take out white membrane. After that you should cut the oranges as you did the fennel, respecting the same dimensions. At the end, add the olives without stone and toss the salad with oil, salt and pepper.

Curiosity
When the fennel?s core, the bulb, is rounded we say that the fennel is male. This type you can use for making salads or ?pinzimonio?. On the contrary, when the bulb is more oblong and the dimensions are smaller, we say that the fennel is female. This type is better to cooked before eating. At the beginning, it is not such an evident distinction, that?s why we suggest asking the grocer in order to be sure which kind of fennel you are buying.
The Italian expression  ?Ti sei fatto infinocchiare?, which uses the word fennel to indicate that someone has been deceived, came from the wild fennel?s characteristic of covering up the scents of other foods. In the past, the use of fennel was to mask the smell of not so fresh fish.