Fennel - Suggestions please!

elsien

(polite suggestions only please!)
Just been to lidl and bought 2 huge bulbs of fennel, as they only came in packs. Will be using one in a salad, but would appreciate any suggestions as to how fennel can be used in hot meals (except ratatouille, which just doesn't do it for me)

Thanks.

Lillibet_2

I like it roasted in a spot of oil, just quarter it & pop into a roasting tray with some hot oil for about half an hour.A sprinkiling of herbs or crushed garlic works well to ring the changes if you like.

HTH;)

reverie

My MIL makes yummy courgette and fennel soup. I am not sure what recipe she uses but there is one here.

LisaT186

I do a chicken, bacon and potato bake with it in. Throw all the ingredients in a roasting tin and bung in the oven, delicious (maybe a little water for the potatoes or dirzzle with oil)!

elsien

Thanks - I did a search, but obviously my search technique needs some more work

Miss_Cinnabon

Hi got some fennel from my veg box, just delivered, had no idea what it was so searched for it and found it was fennel.

No idea what to do with it, maybe a salad, can it be used for anything else?

Any ideas?
Kyle

Pink.

Hi Kyle,

There's an older thread with lots of ideas for fennel so I've merged your thread with it to keep all the suggestions together.

Pink

MessyTessie

Last night I won a veg basket at work :j I know how to cook most of it but included is also three bulb things of fennel (identified for me by our chef). My question is how do I cook it, someone mentioned roasting it but how exactly, is it like potato? and what kind of taste should I expect?

My other question is how do I roast parsnips to make them less like my mothers (woody) and more like Aunt Bessies?

TIA for any advice

Farway

Fennel has an aniseed taste, never raoted it so can't comment on that aspect

Parsnips, remove the core first. Split lengthways, then again so quartered
You will see the core as different colour in centre, just slice it out and roast as normal

Generali

Fennel is delicious - it has a strong, distinctive aniseedy taste and goes well with lamb when roasted with some aubergine and onions in olive oil and some rosemary. No need to blanch it first just hack it into chunks and put in an oven for about 50 mins.

1. Peel parsnips.
2. Cut in half lengthways and in 2-3 pieces each.
3. If using old parsnips, remove the woody core - you can see it quite clearly in the middle of the parsnip. The easiest way is to cut down each side of the core and round the bottom at the end and then sort of pull and hack it out. It works better than it sounds.
4. Boil for about 5 mins.
5. Roast in a medium hot oven for about 45 mins.
6. Be careful. There's a lot of sugar in parsnips - they burn easily!