I love to educate people about an unfamiliar vegetable.
Raw fennel tastes like licorice, which scares off most people right from the start. And even if you do love licorice, you probably don’t want it in your salad, so that’s not helpful.
Then fennel grows with fibrous strings like celery, so you need to cut it thin to enjoy the flavor and not focus on the texture.
Most Americans don’t understand that fennel is one of the supporting cast members that make up Italian and Mediterranean food. And with most of us eating our share of pasta and Italian sausage, we are familiar with the flavor, and by learning to use fennel, we can bring it to our own cooking.
Bringing Fennel Home
I don’t save the tops of fennel for any use. Many recipes will tell you to use the fronds for garnish, but I have never thought they contained much flavor. Cut the green tops off the bulb and discard, or you could save them for soup.
The green parts of all vegetables are where photosynthesis happens. Photosynthesis gives us chlorophyll, and plants have more nutrients and antioxidants where they work to convert sunlight into energy.
Don’t bother to trim the brown spots off the fennel bulbs until you are ready to use it. They will just bruise again.
Preparation
Fennel does have a core at the bottom of the bulb. I will use just the outer layers when using fennel raw in a salad, but when cooking, trim about a quarter-inch from the bottom and use it.
If you are going to eat fennel raw, cut it against the grain, consider investing in a mandoline to shave it super-thin.
If you are going to cook it, roast or grill it to bring out the sweetness and add caramelization. Fennel retains its texture with these dry heat cooking methods. When you cook it in liquid, it softens considerably.
I would braise it with the following recipe. Braising will cook it down until it is very soft. Then serve it almost as a sauce with meat, mashed potatoes, or polenta.
My favorite way to convince people to try it is to cook it with onion in marinara sauce for pasta. The flavor goes with the Italian inspired tomato sauce, and it stays well hidden from curious eaters.
Braised Fennel
- 2 fennel bulbs
- 1 half onion, sliced, from root to tip
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
- ½ teaspoon salt (If you are using homemade broth, use the salt. If you are using store-bought broth, omit the salt until tasting at the end.)
- 1 teaspoon cold butter
- 2 teaspoons minced parsley
- ½ teaspoon orange or lemon zest
Trim the tops off of the bulbs of fennel. Cut the bulbs in half from root to stem, then slice into strips. Heat olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. When the oil begins to shimmer in the pan, add the fennel and onions, don’t stir, let it brown on the bottom, about 2 minutes. Gently flip the vegetables and brown on the other side for another 1 to 2 minutes. Add the broth. Use a spatula to scrape any browned bits off of the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with salt (if using) and stir. Lower the heat to a low simmer (the liquid is bubbling but under control). Cook until the vegetables are tender, and the liquid reduced to a glaze, about 10–15 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the butter, parsley, and citrus zest and serve.
Meat Marinara Sauce
- 1 pound of ground beef and/or Italian sausage
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 fennel bulb, diced
- 1–2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon red chili flakes
- ¼ cup red wine
- 1 quart tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons basil, chopped
Brown the meat in a large Dutch oven over medium heat, season with salt. When the meat is cooked, remove any extra fat if desired (I like to leave a few tablespoons. For vegetarians start here with 2 tablespoons of olive oil.), add the onion and fennel and continue cooking until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic, oregano, and chili flakes, stir for a minute or two, to cook the garlic. Add the red wine and let the wine cook until it is nearly all evaporated. Add the tomato sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and let the sauce cook over very low heat for an hour if possible, just to allow the flavors meld. Stir every few minutes to make sure it does not burn. When ready to eat, stir in the fresh chopped basil. Serve over pasta or roasted eggplant and cauliflower.
If your fennel gets lost in the fridge
Fennel will store in the refrigerator for a week or two, wrap it loosely in plastic. It will discolor and turn brown on any damaged surface. You can peel off the outer layer and trim the bottom when you are ready to use it.
Fun Fennel Facts
If you grow fennel at home, leave a few bulbs in the ground and let the plant form flowers and then seeds. You can let the plant die, collect the seeds, and use them to grow more fennel and for cooking.
You can also grow fennel from the core. If you have it in the ground at home, cut the fennel plant at the base, and another bulb will form. Or if you have purchased fennel at the store, when you cut off the bottom of the bulb for cooking, follow these directions to use the scraps to grow another plant.
Don’t be afraid of the unknown.
Fennel is a strange vegetable if you have not been brought up to understand how the flavors work within your food. Let fennel cook thoroughly and use it to bring another layer of flavor into your recipes.
Once you learn to cook it for your tastes, you will have a new appreciation for it.