Wash the fennels carefully and divide them into 4 parts: put some water to boil and cook the fennels for about 20 minutes. Once they are ready take them out of the water and put them aside.

Take a baking pan, lay the fennels inside the pan, and add grated bread, grated parmesan, oil , salt and pepper. Add some little pieces of butter in the corners of the pan and one on each part of the cut fennel. Put the pan into the oven, 150°C ventilated oven, let them cook for about 25 - 30 minutes.

When they are brown and crusty, take them out of the oven.

While the fennels are cooking, start preparing the bechamel, which must be creamy but not too thick; this is why we use a little less flour than in the classic recipe.

Put the butter in a pot and when it has melted, add the flour, start stirring and add the milk, continuing to stir. Add the nutmeg and a little bit of salt.

Continue to stir. When the bechamel starts to boil, get it to the right consistency and turn the flame off. If there are some lumps, use the mixer to correct, at a minimum speed.

Serve it warm as a base for the fennels and lay them on it enriching the dish decoration with some pepper.