Fennel in parchment packets with olives in the microwave. I love raw fennel: it’s a refreshing, filling vegetable with a delightful aroma, ideal when we’re dieting and perfect in salads, but I like cooked fennel a bit less—unless it’s prepared in a tasty way, like Mediterranean-style fennel in a pan or gratinated fennel in milk. The other day, for example, I decided to prepare a savory fennel side dish; I had little time, didn’t want to dirty a lot of dishes and didn’t feel like turning on the oven, so I opted for the microwave. The result? You can see it in the photo: fragrant and flavorful fennel that we even enjoyed as a vegetarian main course for autumn and winter, accompanied by a nice piece of homemade bread. Ready to make it with me? Let’s go to the kitchen—I’m sure this recipe will accompany you for as long as fennel is in season! Before we start cooking, remember that if you want to stay updated on all my recipes, you can follow my Facebook page (here) and my Instagram profile (here) and find many others in my book “La Sicilia è in tavola”.
Take a look:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cooking methods: Microwave
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter and Spring
Ingredients
- 1 fennel (large)
- 1 spring onion
- 2 peeled tomatoes
- 1 oz Taggiasca olives
- to taste salt
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- to taste salt
- to taste grated Parmesan cheese
- 3 1/3 tbsp white wine
Tools
- Parchment paper
- Microwave ovens
Preparation
To make the fennel in parchment packets, start by preparing the parchment boats. Cut two sheets of parchment paper about 13 3/4 × 13 3/4 inches each, fold them repeatedly as shown in the photo until you obtain an accordion shape, tie the ends tightly with kitchen twine and open them to form the boats that will hold the vegetables.
Rinse the fennel, remove the fronds and the outer leaves, cut the bulbs in half and slice them, then chop the spring onion and the peeled tomatoes.
Arrange the fennel slices inside the parchment boats, add the olives, spring onion, tomatoes, salt, pepper and oil, white wine and a handful of Parmesan (grated with a coarse grater).
Close the boats, place them on a plate or shallow dish and cook in the microwave at 750W for 10 minutes. Remove from the microwave, let cool a few minutes and enjoy. As an alternative to the microwave (which will make the fennel slightly less “watery”), you can place the packets in a skillet, pour a little water (into the pan and around the packets) and cook for 20 minutes over low heat.
For a vegan version of these parchment packet fennel, omit the cheese.
Storage and tips
The fennel in parchment packets is good both hot and at room temperature and will keep in the fridge for up to 2 days (stored in an airtight container and removed from the parchment packet).
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