Tuesday, May 18, 2010

The Dilemma: Featuring Fennel



Disclaimer: no fennel grows in my garden.  But it could some day.  And with that in mind, I write...

My Organics to You box arrived today and inside was a fennel bulb.  Hm.  I've never prepared fennel before.  In fact, I've eaten it only a handful of times.


I wasn't sure what I'd do with it so started perusing my cookbooks in search of something that might grab me. 

America's Test Kitchen had plenty of fennel recipes: fennel braised with kale sauce (kale sauce? um, yummy) and linguine...fennel in bread stuffing with ham, mushrooms and pine nuts...on pizza with sun dried tomatoes and asiago...roasted with red onions and carrots...  Well, there were a lot of options there that sounded tasty, but they also sounded a bit heavier than I was after.  I had a pretty rich weekend full of excellent friends, good food and celebration so I was looking for something a little more fresh and light.  (And quite honestly, I wasn't in the mood for a major endeavour in the kitchen.)

I took a gander at my Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites: Flavorful Recipes for Healthful Meals book next and learned that it's a member of the parsley family (ha!) and is native to the Mediterranean.  And so they say,the bulb has a crunchy texture like celery and has a mild licorice taste...hmmm...what to do, what to do...

Looked online a bit and flipped through more books and learned that fennel is rich in vitamins A, B complex, phosphorus, potassium (which we in the NW get plenty of) and sulfur.  It provides relief from abdominal cramping and nausea and stimulates the appetite.  I also learned that it is best eaten raw..and so that's where I landed.
The New Moosewood Cookbook (Mollie Katzen's Classic Cooking)I found a recipe for Jicama, Orange and Fennel salad in one of my Moosewood books.  It fit perfectly as my box came with oranges...as well as radishes - so I swapped out the jicama for radish and went to work.

I didn't have a clue as to how to clean and cut the fennel but found plenty of info online.  This video was my favorite resource.  (Plus I love the Australian accent.)

The recipe was incredibly simple and it turned out quite lovely.  I'd make it again!


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