Roast Fennel & Bread Salad with Anchovy Dressing
“It’s not a salad if you put bread in it” someone once told me. What a load of tosh. Have you ever heard of croutons? Hmmm? Although regular croutons depress me; rock hard squares that shatter to dust once bitten. I like to make bread more of the main event by getting some really good quality sourdough or a similar sturdy loaf, charring it and and tearing it into rough chunks (an idea I fell in love with after making this). It sponges up the dressing, leaving you with half juicy, half crisp pieces which really bulk out a salad in the most obscenely delicious manner.
Last night I wasn’t in the mood for meat, so I roasted some fennel and cherry tomatoes, added some fat kalamata olives and coated everything in an anchovy rich dressing – 10 really large, plump fillets which pumped things up a notch or twenty. Chilli, garlic, parsley, olive oil…you can imagine it all soaking into the bread. Go on, imagine it.
Deep-fried croutons, be gone.
Roast Fennel and Bread Salad with Anchovy Dressing (serves 2)
2 bulbs fennel
10 cherry tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
About 8 kalamata olives
2 slices sourdough bread
For the dressing:
1 red chilli, finely chopped
Small handful parsley, finely chopped
10 plump anchovy fillets, chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
Olive oil
Preheat the oven to 200C.
Remove the tough outer later of the fennel and trim any stalky bits at the top. Cut each bulb into quarters and then cut each quarter in half again. Arrange in a roasting dish and sling in the garlic (unpeeled) too. Drizzle with oil then give everything a good mix around to make sure it’s coated well. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 20 minutes.
Arrange the tomatoes in a separate dish, coat with oil and season as you did with the fennel. Once the fennel has been roasting for 20 minutes, put the tomatoes in the oven too. Cook for a further 15 minutes.
To make the dressing, put the chilli, parsley and anchovies in a pestle and mortar and pound to a paste. Add the lemon juice, a good slug of oil to loosen it and season with black pepper. Give everything a really good mix to emulsify the dressing. Once the vegetables are ready, remove the garlic and squeeze that into the dressing also. Mix well again.
Toast the bread, tear it into chunks and put into a large bowl. Add the fennel and tomatoes followed by the dressing. Give it a really good mix. Arrange on plates with the olives scattered over.
Category: Bread, Fish, Fish and Seafood, Main Dishes, Salads | Tags: Anchovies, anchovy dressing, bread salad recipe, chilli, fennel salad, fennel salad recipe, kalamata olives, roast cherry tomatoes, roast fennel and bread salad 18 comments »
October 13th, 2011 at 7:52 pm
Wasn’t in the mood for meat? You feeling ok? :^P
October 13th, 2011 at 7:58 pm
Actually now you mention it, I did have a bit of temperature…
October 14th, 2011 at 4:26 am
It is too a salad if you put bread in it! An absolutely delicious salad at that! This is giving me all sorts of inspiration…
October 14th, 2011 at 6:37 am
Thank you. Glad to have inspired!
October 14th, 2011 at 1:58 pm
Beautiful. Those chunks of golden crispy bread look incredible. Who are these people who don’t think you can put bread in salad. Have they not heard of fattoush? Panzanella? Anyway, salad or not this looks amazing – just the kind of dish I love to eat
October 14th, 2011 at 5:49 pm
I know, right?! Pretty much every cuisine in the world has a bread salad.
October 15th, 2011 at 6:13 am
the roasted fennel looks amazing! I’ve pretty much only tried fennel raw/sauted, got to give it a go! (coincidentally also did a fennel salad in my last post, though with bacon). good job, that’s delicious looking!
October 17th, 2011 at 1:54 pm
This sounds really lovely, can’t wait to try it! Can I just check – does the fennel cook for 35 mins total? (20 mins + 15 mins with the tomatoes)
October 17th, 2011 at 1:56 pm
Hi Minnie – yes leave it in with the tomatoes so 35 mins total. Basically you want to cook it until it’s nice and tender.
October 17th, 2011 at 5:38 pm
People have strange issues with bread.
this looks ace; especially as it’s got anchovies in it.
October 18th, 2011 at 12:58 pm
Oo, very tasting looking and a very reasonable length ingredients list indeed. Win!
October 18th, 2011 at 12:59 pm
Yes, a very simple one this! Do let me know if you try it
October 19th, 2011 at 1:15 pm
P.s. I’m sure you know this already, but you get a mention on the Word of Mouth Guardian blog today:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/oct/19/fruitful-search-recipes-internet
October 19th, 2011 at 1:16 pm
I did! But thank you very much for the heads up anyway
October 23rd, 2011 at 2:56 pm
Made this for lunch yesterday – very piquant dressing (allergic to lemon, so used cider vinegar), great idea to use sourdough. The fennel was roasted so caramelised beautifully. Definitely one we’ll make again, and bridges the gap between summer salads and winter vegetable stews.
October 23rd, 2011 at 3:51 pm
Fab, really glad to hear you liked it. Hooray for bread in salads!
October 30th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
How did I miss this??? Goodness, it looks delicious.
October 30th, 2011 at 11:04 pm
I’ve only recently started cooking with fennel – gonna give this a try for sure!