I sent her to the store to get me some leeks, and she came back with someting that slightly resembled a leek, but wasn’t really.
Instead of a Leek, which looks like a giant scallion, she brought home something that looked vaguely like a large scallion, but it had several celery-stalk looking things protruding from it instead of large, thick “leaves.” They also had some much finer looking foliage sprouting from the celery stalks…something herb-like.
I decided to try putting it in my chowder recipe anyhow, until I cut into it. It smelled like licorice, so I abandoned the chowder and made spaghetti and meatballs.
Definitely fennel. My dad puts it thanksgiving stuffing. You can also make it au gratin, layered with potatoes. There’s a recipe in The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook should the muse ever strike.
Eat it raw! It’s delicious, very refreshing. My Italian relatives would eat it like you’d eat celery. It’s much tastier than celery, though, and I don’t even like licorice.
This may sound horrible, but I thought it was great–a delicious traditional Sicilian recipe for pasta with fennel and sardines. I also like it alongside raw celery, carrots, red bell peppers, etc. with dip, as a crudite’.
Fennel is great used in any way. Just a few shavings will tart up any salad and I love it baked with baked garlic, squeeze the garlic over the fennel, drizzle with olive oil and fresh grated parmesan or romano.
I made a leek and fennel soup awhile back that came out great. I’d post the recipe but the cookbook is in a box in another state. It was from Deborah Madison’s ginormous vegetarian cookbook, though, if anyone else has it (and I’m sure someone does) and wants to share.
Fennel is fantastic. It’s the only vegetable I’m aware of where we can eat every part of it, and each element has a totally different character. The bulb can be eaten raw (I make an amazing salad with raw salmon, orange, and shaved fennel) or cooked (caramelized, it has a totally different flavor, sweet and nutty); the stalks can be used to flavor soup; the fronds can be used as an herb, like dill (try making a pesto with it, and serve with roasted pork); the seeds are a wonderfully fragrant spice; and the pollen is out-of-this-world amazing (the Italians call it “dust from angels’ wings”).
Try slicing it thin, sauteeing it in olive oil over medium-low until it’s golden and aromatic, and adding it to a light tomato sauce over pasta. Heaven.
My fav fennel recipe:
cook pasta.
meanwhile, slice and sautee fennel pieces in butter. Add: slices of 15 green olives, a small can of tuna; dab of cream; heaped spoonful of ginger jelly or sliced sugary ginger.
put the mixture of the drained pasta. garnish with more olive slices and littel branches of fennel.
Thank you everyone, it’s definitely fennel that I have. I will consider some recipes based on what I have in stock in my pantry. So, you cook the bulb and it doesn’t taste like licorice at all? What about the stalks?
I like to slice fennel thin and braise it in a baking dish with some chicken stock (veggie stock in my case) and Parmesan cheese on top, sprayed with a little cooking spray. It’s done when the fennel is soft and the Parmesan is starting to turn golden brown.
You don’t eat those. You can take some of the fronds and use them as a garnish on whatever you cook with the bulb.
I did a little looking around, and I can’t find any indication that anise has a bulb at the bottom. And the pics I did see don’t look like anything that a person might mistake for a leek.
Anyhow, fennel does retain some of its anise/licorice-like qualities after cooking, but they mellow. Fennel is great with seafood (generally, the licorice-y herbs [fennel, tarragon, chervil] go well with fish.), and I also like it roasted with carrots and onions as an accompaniment to pork or chicken. Another simple way to enjoy fennel is raw with a dipping sauce made of extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and perhaps a little garlic.
