Fennel
Cooking with Fennel:
Fennel always makes an interesting substitute for celery; it’s delicious
braised, baked, steamed, sautéed, or grilled and is a fine salad vegetable.
Be sure to use the leaves for a garnish or seasoning. I’ve never found much
use for the fennel stalks (outside of using them in soup stocks or throwing
them in the fire for their aromatic smoke).
Special Handling: Cut off the stalks just where they emerge from the bulb.
Fennel has a core, which is visible once you cut it in half. If the bulb is
small it is not necessary to remove the core. If the bulb is very large,
quarter it and remove the core with a paring knife if it seems tough or
stringy. Remove scarred outer leaves by cutting a slice from the base of the
bulb, then pulling them off. They can be used, along with the stalks, to
make a quick stock, or they can be peeled, then sliced and cooked.
Fennel Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
1 English cucumber, diced
1 large fennel bulb, diced
1 avocado - peeled, pitted, and diced
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 cup pickled banana peppers, diced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
1.Combine the cucumber, fennel, avocado, red onion, banana peppers,
cilantro, honey, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Allow mixture to
sit 20 minutes before serving.
Baked Fennel With Parmesan
Ingredients
2 fennel bulbs
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup half-and-half cream
3/4 cup creme fraiche
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
1.Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Cut the base off of the
fennel bulbs, and cut a cone shape into the base to remove the core. You can
see the core because it is whiter than the surrounding green. This is
optional, but helps the fennel cook faster. Slice the fennel vertically
(upright) into 1/4 inch thick slices.
2.Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the fennel, and
fry for about 5 minutes. Stir in the half-and-half and creme fraiche until
well blended. Transfer to a shallow baking dish. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese
over the top.
3.Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the top is golden
brown and the fennel is tender enough to pierce with a fork.
Fennel a la Grecque
Pale fennel is lovely prepared this way, but many vegetables are good
candidates for treating l la Grecque, such as celery, mushrooms, carrots,
pearl onions, cauliflower florets, tender turnips, and radishes. In fact, a
bouquet of several pickled vegetables can be very fetching on a composed
salad plate.
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
½ teaspoon peppercorns
¼ teaspoon fennel seeds, bruised
3-4 fennel bulbs approximately 1 pound quartered
1 onion thinly sliced
3 large garlic cloves crushed
1 bay leaf
Salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
½ cup dry white wine
Juice 1 lemon
Directions
Gently bruise the coriander, pepper and fennel seed to release their
flavors. Combine every thing in a non-corrosive pan with water to cover and
bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, covered until the fennel is
tender but still a little firm when pierced with a knife 15-20 minutes,
depending on the size of the pieces. Remove the fennel to a dish. Raise the
heat, reduce the cooking liquid by about one third, and then pour it over
the fennel. Cover and refrigerate. Serve chilled the pieces left whole or
thinly sliced.
Use other Vegetables: Leave small carrots whole or cut larger ones into 3
inch lengths, trim celery into 3 inch lengths; leave small mushrooms and
radishes whole; quarter the larger mushrooms; separate cauliflower into
florets and parboil for 1 minute; scrub young turnips and peel and quarter
older ones; parboil and peel boiling onions. Remove individual vegetables as
they become tender.
Braised Fennel with Parmesan
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
2-3 fennel bulbs, trimmed and halved or quartered lengthwise
Salt and Pepper
½ cup dry white wine or water
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Chopped fennel greens or parsley
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Rub a baking dish large enough to hold the
fennel in a single layer with butter. Steam the fennel for 10 minutes, then
arrange in the dish. Dot with butter or drizzle with olive oil, season with
salt and pepper, and add the wine. Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the
cover, baste the fennel with its juice, then add the cheese and continue
baking until the fennel is completely tender, about 10 minutes more. Serve
with chopped fennel greens or parsley.
Fried Fennel Appetizer
Serve this as a first course with a wedge of lemon, Saffron Mayonnaise,
Garlic Mayonnaise, or Romesco Sauce. A number of pieces of fennel will fall
away from the root. You can try them too, or use them in a sauté or for
fennel soup;
3 fennel bulbs, trimmed the root ends intact
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon milk
1 cup fine fresh bread crumbs
Olive oil for pan frying
Salt and freshly milled pepper
Slice the fennel lengthwise about 3/8 inches thick or into wedges. In either
case make sure the pieces are joined at the root. Steam until partially
tender, about 10 minutes, then remove. Dip the fennel into the egg and milk
mixture, then the bread crumbs. If you don’t’ eat egg, dip it directly into
a plate of flour. Heat enough oil in a wide skillet to cover generously.
When hot, add the fennel in a single layer and lover the heat to medium.
Cook on both sides until golden brown. Season with salt and pepper and serve
with lemon wedges or one of the suggested sauces.
Sauté of
Fresh Fava Beans, Onions, and Fennel
3 lb fresh fava beans shelled
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 fresh fennel bulb trimmed, sliced
1 teaspoon fennel seeds coarsely ground with a spice grinder
1 1/3 cup canned low-salt chicken broth more or less
4 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1/2 cup chopped pancetta
1/2 teaspoon dried savory
2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Salt to taste
Freshly-ground black pepper to taste
Cook fava beans in boiling salted water 2 minutes. Drain, cool and peel
outer skins. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add
onion and fennel bulb; sauté 5 minutes. Add favas or lima beans and fennel
seeds; sauté 3 minutes. Add 1 cup broth and 2 tablespoons dill; bring to
boil. Reduce heat; simmer 10 minutes to blend flavors.Stir in pancetta and
savory, adding more broth if mixture is dry. Simmer until favas are tender,
about 15 minutes longer.Mix in lemon juice and 2 tablespoons dill. Season to
taste with salt and pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature. (Can be made
2 days ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before serving.)
Orange Beet And Fennel Salad
from Mollie Katzen’s Vegetable The oranges and beets can be prepared up to 2
days ahead. In fact, it’s preferable to do the oranges ahead, so they can
give off a lot of juice. I like to put in the full amount of garlic. It
gives this very cool salad a nice touch of heat.
10 medium beets about 2 inches in diameter
6 oranges
¼ cup raspberry vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced about 2 cups
finely minced fennel tops, for garnish
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking dish with foil. Trim the
leaves from the beets, place them in the dish, and cover with foil. Bake
until they are soft enough to be pierced easily with a fork (about 1 hour).
Set aside to cool.
Meanwhile use a medium sized serrated knife to cut the peel from the
oranges, then section the oranges into medium sized bowl to catch all the
juice>(Just cut with a sawing motion along the membranes to release the
sections) Squeeze the remaining juice into the bowl and discard the
membranes. When the beets are cool enough to handle, use a small sharp
paring knife to peel them. Cut them first in half, and then into the half
moon shaped slices. Transfer the beets to the bowlful of oranges, and add
the vinegar salt, and garlic. Stir gently until well combined. Add the
sliced fennel and stir again. Cover tightly and chill until serving time.
The whole salad will turn an amazing color. Serve topped with a light
sprinkling of the minced fennel tops.