I just bought an entire anise plant, for the first time. My first thought is to use it like celery, in a salad or soup. what else can I do with it?
I usually refer to it as fennel, so if you’re looking for recipes, you might want to try both terms. As a warning, the stalks coming out of the top are generally woody and tough, so while they can give a nice flavor to stocks, don’t try to eat them directly. The little dill-like frond-y bits can be used raw as a garnish on your cooked fennel, or as a salad ingredient; I’ve never tried to cook them.
My favorite thing to do with it is toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast on a baking sheet at 450 F until tender. It’s also very nice when you use it as a bed for chicken or fish that you then roast. I’ve never put it in soups (other than as mentioned above), but it’s great in salads, especially if you shave it pretty thinly - try it with some cubed roasted beets, tossed with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, or with some mixed citrus. You can also saute it, by itself or with other veggies.
I like it on sausage pizza. It’s much like fennel.
Be sure to pronounce it with a short “a”.
I think it actually is fennel. At least I can’t tell the different between fennel and anise (some markets call it one thing, some the other here–if they are indeed different. I’ve never seen the same market have two similar plants with one being called fennel and the other anise.)
The seeds that are sold as “anise/aniseed” and “fennel” are definitely different, though. The vegetable, though, seems to be the same.
edit: Wait, it seems you may be referring to the seed, not the bulb. Yes, those are different–anise being stronger in flavor and smaller in size/darker in color. I assumed the OP was talking about the bulb and stalks, given his celery description.
Fennel and anise are two different plants belonging to the same family. Fennel is the one that I always see growing wild by the roadside.
Anise is Pimpinella anisum. Fennel is Foeniculum vulgare. Licorice (Liquorice) is Glycyrrhiza glabra. Supermarkets may ignore this distinction and call a plant the wrong thing. “Fennel” is much more common in recipes it seems, but I don’t know if that’s what they really sell in stores, and whether it matters greatly which you use. I’ve always thought of fennel as an evil weed, after having to clear out a whole field of it one summer.
As biffy says, the two are closely related. Licorice is a more distant cousin.
This is Foeniculum vulgare and what I refer to as fennel. I see stores call that both fennel and anise.
This site has that plant listed as anise, with the note:
Yes, that’s what I bought . . . a large bulb, with stalks and dill-like stuff at the top. The store where I bought it called it “celery anise,” to add to the confusion.
I love fennel! It smells so good when you cut it up. I’m actually getting ready right now to cut up some fennel for some roasted chicken I’m making tonight. I like to quarter the fennel and add carrots and onions to the pan and nest the chicken on top, just like GilaB said. I will use some of the fronds as a fresh garnish on the chicken. I also like to use fennel matchsticks when cooking different types of fish en papillotte. Good stuff!
Also not to be confused with the unrelated Star Anise…
I thought this thread was going to be about anise as a herb/spice (goes well with cooked fruit - especially pears, but also apples or peaches).
I’ve heard that fennel bulb is good baked au gratin, but I haven’t tried it that way myself (it’s not a veg I use often)
I’ve have grown anise plants and they are different from fennel. I was however referring to the plant’s seeds not the fat edible stalks.