Fennel

mardatha

I have a load of fennel in the garden. What can I do with it ? be polite - I meant cooking !

meanmarie

HI mardartha....is it herb or bulb fennel ? I love the bulb braised in a little stock, if you don't have any you could use a drop of balsamic vinegar, ordinary vinegar with a little sugar small amount of water...just anything with a flavour...you don't even have to turn on the oven it will do in a slow cooker or pot on top of cooker, very slowly. You can also slice it thinly to go in a salad.

Herb I use with fish, put some finely chopped into homemade bread, or again use in salad...lovely with celery and onion IMO.

Good luck

Marie

misskool

Fennel bulbs I chop use, soak in salted water for a few minutes and then mix into salads.

mardatha

It's the herb one. Lovely feathery leaves that taste all aniseedy. I never tried it in bread... ty

frivolous_fay

On my mealplan this week... (a Bill Granger recipe)

White anchovy, fennel and celery salad
4-6

2 small cos lettuce, leaves separated
1 bulb fennel, outer layer removed, very finely sliced
3 stalks celery, thinly slice on the diagonal
a handful of leaves from the centre of the celery
12 white anchovies

2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice

Toss the veg together
Whisk dressing ingredients together and coat the leaves with it
Pile onto a large plate and garnish with the anchovies. Season with black pepper

Lemon_Verbena

Use it to top salmon in the steamer , fennel goes really well with fish, you can also make fennel vinegar which is good for making salad dressings for fish based salads etc. Fennel tea is another good use for it and its great for indigestion and for 'windy' people. If you let it go to seed you can harvest the seeds and use them in bread making.

Fennel is one of the spices in chinese five spice mixes, so you can grind the seeds down and use them in chinese dishes, also for making italian meatballs or meat loaf will give them an nice flavour. It goes well with fish, chicken and pork. I used to have a pet rabbit that particularly loved fennel, she'd jump up in the cage as soon as she smelt the fennel when I brought it in the room.

LV x

Reverbe

mardatha wrote: »

I have a load of fennel in the garden. What can I do with it ? be polite - I meant cooking !

Send me some.. I cant find it anywhere in the shops..;)

champys

I love them simply as a vegetable: cut into quarters, boil or steam till just tender, then in oven (I use the Remoska for this) with some freshly grated parmesan scattered over. The fennel in my garden is still far from harvesting - can't wait!

Lemon_Verbena

I think the original poster was asking about the herb Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), there have been some references to the vegetable Florence Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare azoricum) which is the one you eat the bulb of in the recipes quoted.

Fennel the herb doesn't make a 'bulb' it has roots that are long thin and slender see the 'side roots' photo halfway down this page http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/4285/how-to-grow-herb-fennel Sorry for being pedantic, but didn't want peeps trying to us the roots of the herby fennel and being disappointed when the don't get the same result of florence fennel.

LV x

mardatha

Yes sorry ! I'm having a more than usually demented week so didn't think. I meant the tall beautiful feathery fennel that, after 3 years trying, I've finally got established. I love aniseed and wanted to know what to use it in, seems a shame just to nibble it
Reverbe, I got it off my neighbour but I have tried packets of seeds as well. They didnt take, but that's because my soil is garbage LOL!

competitionscafe

Nigel Slater recipe - quarter them, brown them with butter in a pan with a lid, add water to about half the height of the fennel pieces, season, lid on, 20 minute gentle simmer, lid off, reduce the liquid to almost none, chuck in some grated parmesan, turn off the heat, put the lid back on and leave it for 2 minutes. Shake the pan, take lid off and serve - delicious.

Also great with fish or raw in a salad.