wild fennel pollen

Kabob Party-Wild Fennel Pollen Salmon Skewers

02 Jul 2010
Grilled Salmon Skewers from Sippity Sup

My kabobs keep clicking. This is Day 5 in my weeklong series dedicated to everything skewered and grilled. Today I have Grilled Salmon Skewers with Wild Fennel Pollen.

But this is Day 5 and I have pretty much covered all the details you may ever need to know about the humble kabob. Everything from cooking simple one-ingredient skewers all the way to how to choose and prep ingredients when there are several choices stuck on the stick.

So I have deicided to use the power of the kabob to highlight an ingredient that you may not be familiar with, or perhaps you just don’t use enough. Wild Fennel Pollen.

Now the name is pretty self-evident ‘cuz Wild Fennel Pollen is exactly what it says it is. The pollen from wild fennel! It is a typical Tuscan ingredient, where it is called finnocio. Hand collected from the flowers of wild fennel growing on the coastal and inland fields and open spaces in warm weather climates like Tuscany and California.

Sippity Sup Continues »
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Grilled Salmon Skewers with Wild Fennel Pollen

Grilled Salmon Skewers with Wild Fennel Pollen
By jgreghenry Published July 1, 2010
Prep time: 5
Yield:1 ()

Ingredients:

  • 0.25 c brown sugar
  • 3 T kosher salt
  • 1 q cool water
  • 0.5 c anise liqueur
  • 1.5 lb salmon, skin removed and cut into 1 1/2" chunks
  • 2 small fennel bulbs, trimmed, quartered & cored
  • 1 T wild fennel pollen or ground fennel seed
  • 0 salt and pepper to taste

Directions

To brine the salmon: Combine, sugar, salt, water,in a non-reactive bowl. Add salmon, cover and refrigerate 4 to 8 hours. Remove from brine and pat dry. Separate the outside layers of the fennel bulb quarters from the inside softer heart. This should leave you with several shaped pieces all about 1 1/2" in size. The variety of shapes is good and will give you a variety of textures. Thread the fennel and the fish onto water soaked bamboo skewers. Alternating them. Make sure to include some of the flat outer pieces of fennel as well as the soft interior pieces on each skewer. Sprinkle each skewer with wild fennel pollen and plenty of salt and pepper. Prepare a charcoal grill until the coals are white but are still glowing red and quite hot. Spread the coals into a single layer and cook the kabobs, for 3 or 4 minutes per side. You goal is for the salmon to be charred a bit on the outside, but remain medium-rare and succulent on the inside. The fennel will also get charred but should remain a bit crunchy. Serve warm.

Notes:

serves 4