Fennel - Suggestions please!

researcher

I love them sauted in garlic and olive oil and served with fish

gwinnie

Sazbo wrote:

Gwinnie do you slice it using a mandolin, or just an ordinary knife?

I'm scared of mandolins! DH bought a set of those Japanese chef's knives a couple of years ago. They scare me too! I still love my little serrated general purpose knife best, even though it's not as sharp as it used to be. I would have thought you get best results with a mandolin though. The thinner the better with anything raw IMO.

lofty_cherrytree

Quarter them lengthways and cook slowly with a knob of butter, a little water and lemon juice or white wine.

Sazbo

gwinnie wrote:

I'm scared of mandolins!

- me too! I'm so clumsy, I always thought I'd end up with more thinly sliced fingers (ie my own!) in the dish than anything else!! :rotfl:

betterbargains4u

Grate them raw into a fresh salad of rocket, sugar snaps peas and cucumber strips.....absolutely yummy.

d.o.o.g

chop and boil like potato and then mash in with some potato.

Or grate raw potato and fennel and mix with an egg. Then form into burgers and grill/fry to make rosti.

lushkat

Thank you for all your wonderful suggestions - I think I will try them raw in a salad seeing as it is such a nice day. However,reading all the many different ways you can eat fennel reminded me of when I had tomato and fennel soup in a really lovely French restaurant- wonder how they made that?

THank you once again everyone!:j

d.o.o.g

FENNEL AND TOMATO SOUP

2 medium bulbs of fennel
1 large onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp finely diced fresh ginger.
1 tsp ground fennel
½ tsp dried chilli flakes
rich chicken stock
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 can peeled plum tomatoes, diced
salt to taste

Quarter fennel bulbs, discarding woody cores. Dice it.

sauté onion, garlic and ginger in the olive oil in a large pan on medium heat.

Add the fennel and sauté for five more minutes.

Add the spices, chicken stock, tomato paste and tomatoes. then continue to cook for 15- 20 minutes on a low heat until fennel is tender.

Do not overcook! It will taste very bitter if you do.

SuiDreams

Thanks for this I'm due to get Fennel in my Veg Bag this week as well and was wondering what we would do with it. I was also wondering what it tasted like as I've never had it before.

VickyM_2

lofty_cherrytree wrote:

Quarter them lengthways and cook slowly with a knob of butter, a little water and lemon juice or white wine.

And add some grated parmesan at the end... where's the hungry smiley when you need it?