Fennel

[klwilliams]

I got fennel (sweet anise) in my CSA box this week, and I have no idea how to cook it. I know a couple of you have recipes, and I'd love it if you'd share them. What I also have:

peppers, both sweet and hot
onions
garlic
potatoes
Chinese green beans

I also have an abundance of grocery stores. Any ideas? Thanks.

Comments

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Well, if you like the aniseed flavour, you could just cut it into strips and eat it. (It's supposed to enhance the flavour of wine).

Or make it into a salad: grilled pepper cut into strips would combine well with fennel, plus avocados, anchovies, chopped walnuts... Or with pear and blue cheese is good.

If you'd rather have a mellower flavour, peppers and fennel would stir-fry nicely together. I use it in risotto (blanch the sliced fennel, strain it, use the resultant stock to make the risotto, add the fennel back at the last minute with maybe something fishy...)

I'm very fond of fennel.

[pale-chartreuse.livejournal.com]

We have had some good luck grilling fennel and fish. Cut up the bulb and grill, basted with oil. Use some of the fronds in oil to flavor the fish as it grills. It's best to get a somewhat firm fish that can hold up to grilling. Make sure to salt and pepper liberally.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

Interesting...

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

That sounds good. I've never made a risotto before. I'll have to try that.

[ppfuf.livejournal.com]

The tivo's been picking up Lydia's Italy recently, and this recipe was on it: http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/blog/meat-recipes/sausages-fennel-olives-recipe/
GM has made it twice, and it's pretty good.
Somewhere, in one of the medieval/ren cookbooks there's a recipe to cut the fennel bulbs in half, take out the centers, stuff them with sausage and braise it in broth. I can't rmeember which cookbook, but we made it at an experimental day at greatsword's and it was pretty good.

[kahnegabs.livejournal.com]

That's a good one. My mother used to stuff fennel bulbs with homemade sausage and we always liked the flavor.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

That sounds good. Sausage never occurred to me. Thanks.

[edanam.livejournal.com]

Fennel's a common seasoning in sausage.

You could also do roasted potato "salad". Grill a variety of veggies -- red potatoes cut in half lengthwise, zucchini, onions (either scallions or rings of white/yellow onion), halves of bell pepper, sliced fennel bulb, etc. Coarse chop, mix with some rosemary, basil, and olive oil.

Nummy, nummy.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

Oh, that sounds good.

[darcyjavanne.livejournal.com]

Sweet anise is great in salads. Just slice thinly. The green stems can be a bit tough, i wouldn't add them to salad. It's also wonderful in stir-fry, stews, etc. It's pretty difficult to ruin.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the suggestion.

[loup_noir]

My guy sauteed fennel bulb (is this what you've received) with carrots/parsnips.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

That sounds good.

My suggestion

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

Throw the fennel away and get vegetables that don't taste like nasty licorice.

Re: My suggestion

[aberwyn.livejournal.com]

I agree and applaud!!!

Re: My suggestion

[kahnegabs.livejournal.com]

I think fennel/anise/licorice is one of those flavors, like cilantro that people just love or else they hate it!

Re: My suggestion

[aberwyn.livejournal.com]

I think you're right. In my case, my hatred of licorice goes back to my grandmother's home remedy for colds -- licorice root boiled into blackish syrup with honey. Very gag-making. It did shorten the amount of time we were sick, though I suspect we got well quickly to avoid having more home remedy.

Re: My suggestion

[desperance.livejournal.com]

I detest liquorice and anise - but I have learned to love fennel. It all started with a restaurant that served fish with fennel seed in the cream sauce - it was just too gorgeous not to eat. Now I cook fennel with a great deal of cheerfulness, but I still won't step over that liquorice/aniseed line.

[evilviscountess.livejournal.com]

Well you can always poke around here

http://www.oceanmist.com/vegetabletype/9/recipe_results.aspx?veg=Fennel

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[tafelspitz.livejournal.com]

We often get fennel bulbs in our CSA, and as one of the neighbors we share it with, (see above), thinks fennel is the Devil's boutonniere, we get to cook with it a lot. What j_i_m_r most often does with it is to chop it up like an onion and sauté it in combination with some bulk Italian sausage. This then gets tossed with some cooked pasta and goat cheese. Sauteing reduces fennel's licorice flavour while it increases its savoriness.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

That sounds great. I'm going to try it.

[lifeofglamour.livejournal.com]

Cathyn makes it for me like this and I LOVE IT. It is so good. I have to make a determined effort to leave him some or I would eat it all om nom nom nom....