Fennel.

Fennel is one of my favourite vegetables to have with fish. It must have some thing to do with the aniseed taste that it has. It is strong but very subtle and full of a rich aromatics and yet not to over powering.

So what do you cook with, well you have your bulb fennel and your herb fennel that you can grow. The herb is great as it looks good in the garden and is tall and decorative; once you let it flower as well, you can collect the seeds and dry them. The seeds are good in all sorts of things from rice to bread. The fine wispy leaf cut up in to salads and over new potatoes with a little butter are just fantastic.

Then you have your bulb fennel. Now this looks a bit like celery. Except that it is not round but flatter and if you get a really good bulb it will have shoots coming of it forming what could be called a symmetrical pattern.

Well what you have to do is prepare the vegetable first. The best way to do that is as follow. Just cut it in half and the in to quarters then as you look at it you will see that it has a triangular shape cone at the bottom. This is where the root was attached. Well cut that out and you are ready to cook, nothing could be simpler.

Now how you cook is up to you but I like to slow roast, braise, or barbecue it. Personally, the slower the cooking the better it seems to be.

To roast it prepare the fennel as I have said above and place in a roasting tin with some onions. Cut the onions in to a similar size to the fennel. Then plenty of a good salt and black pepper, olive oil and a clove of garlic.

Then put in the oven and cook for about forty minuets in a medium oven. You can cover it tin foil if you want to start with as this soften all the veg to start with by steaming it all then take the foil of and letting it brown a little.

To barbecue prepare the same as you would if you was going to roast it but rap it in tin foil and place it on the barbecue where it is not to hot . You can put the same amount of onions garlic and seasoning as you would if you were roasting it if you like. The smoke from the fire and that barbecue taste along with the fennel is just great.

As for braising it, place in a cooking pot with a lid that fits add a little wine onions garlic salt pepper and just let it cook slowly in the oven. Once the fennel is soft strain of the liquid in to a saucepan and place that onto a high burning ring and allow it to reduce somewhat then add a little butter and just let it all thicken and the use this as a sauce over the fennel.

What ever you do with it fennel is a versatile and tasty vegetable that people often back away from. Just get it and find a way to cook it that you like and if you cannot think of one then slice it as fine as you can and put it in your potato salad. It tastes good raw as well.

is one of my favourite vegetables to have with fish. It must have some thing to do with the aniseed taste that it has. It is strong but very subtle and full of a rich aromatics and yet not to over powering.

So what do you cook with, well you have your bulb fennel and your herb fennel that you can grow. The herb is great as it looks good in the garden and is tall and decorative; once you let it flower as well, you can collect the seeds and dry them. The seeds are good in all sorts of things from rice to bread. The fine wispy leaf cut up in to salads and over new potatoes with a little butter are just fantastic.

Then you have your bulb fennel. Now this looks a bit like celery. Except that it is not round but flatter and if you get a really good bulb it will have shoots coming of it forming what could be called a symmetrical pattern.

Well what you have to do is prepare the vegetable first. The best way to do that is as follow. Just cut it in half and the in to quarters then as you look at it you will see that it has a triangular shape cone at the bottom. This is where the root was attached. Well cut that out and you are ready to cook, nothing could be simpler.

Now how you cook is up to you but I like to slow roast, braise, or barbecue it. Personally, the slower the cooking the better it seems to be.

To roast it prepare the fennel as I have said above and place in a roasting tin with some onions. Cut the onions in to a similar size to the fennel. Then plenty of a good salt and black pepper, olive oil and a clove of garlic.

Then put in the oven and cook for about forty minuets in a medium oven. You can cover it tin foil if you want to start with as this soften all the veg to start with by steaming it all then take the foil of and letting it brown a little.

To barbecue prepare the same as you would if you was going to roast it but rap it in tin foil and place it on the barbecue where it is not to hot . You can put the same amount of onions garlic and seasoning as you would if you were roasting it if you like. The smoke from the fire and that barbecue taste along with the fennel is just great.

As for braising it, place in a cooking pot with a lid that fits add a little wine onions garlic salt pepper and just let it cook slowly in the oven. Once the fennel is soft strain of the liquid in to a saucepan and place that onto a high burning ring and allow it to reduce somewhat then add a little butter and just let it all thicken and the use this as a sauce over the fennel.

What ever you do with it fennel is a versatile and tasty vegetable that people often back away from. Just get it and find a way to cook it that you like and if you cannot think of one then slice it as fine as you can and put it in your potato salad. It tastes good raw as well.