Yay! I am so excited — I am taking the next level of Nia, Blue Belt AND I received fennel in my organic produce box. Fennel. Yay. Two new things. As you may know if you’ve read any of my posts about the delivery I receive, I ordered it partly because I wanted to try new stuff. Yeah, it is possible to go to a store or a Farmer’s Market and purchase produce I have not tried before, but I don’t. I just stick to what I know. But when I get it delivered to me then I can work with it. I am excited to be trying new things. Ok, I just realized though that while I am cooking with a new-to-me vegetable I did it the same way I do everything. I have heard about roasted fennel and again, if you’ve read anything about my cooking you know I roast pretty much all my veggies. So I did that again with the fennel. This time I also looked at the information on the website of the company that delivers the produce. Yes, I learned after chopping off the beat greens and throwing them away, that I should find out what portion of the fruit/vegetable can be used. The information indicated that the bulb can be roasted and the fronds can be used to flavor meat. I am not familiar with fennel. It is not a vegetable I even think about. So I was happy to receive some to try. Yay a new-to-me vegetable.
As soon as I cut the fennel I recognized the smell. So I must have had the flavor somewhere. Which makes sense because fennel is actually an herb that is eaten as if it were a vegetable. I’ve probably had it in a Greek dish or something from the Mediterranean region. I decided to use some of the fennel with the chicken I was cooking. I just cut off some of the fronds and put them in the dish with the chicken that I was cooking. I didn’t change the recipe I was planning for the meat, I just put the fennel tops around the chicken.
The bulb of the fennel I sliced, put in a pan, sprayed with olive oil, drizzled with balsamic vinegar, sprinkled with salt, and put in the oven at 400 degrees F. I cooked it for about 40 minutes. It was good, but I thought it was sour. My hubby didn’t think it was sour. I am wondering if it was because I took the pieces that were drenched in vinegar. He doesn’t really like vinegar so I decided to take those pieces. Or maybe it was just what I was tasting. But I will get some fennel in the future to see.
I still have some of the fronds left so I plan I using them in other dishes. Maybe cut up on a salad, added to a soup, or cooked with other meat.
Have you eaten fennel before? Do you cook with fennel? How do you cook it?
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