Fennel isn’t everybody’s favorite vegetable. Some folks don’t even know what it is. It didn’t used to be a “regular” at the market, but it certainly is in my neck of the woods. Every market carries it, even Trader Joe’s (theirs are the least expensive I’ve found). I love the stuff – eating strips of it out of hand, or softly simmered in something until it’s silky tender.
Here on my blog there’s another recipe for fennel that’s probably my favorite – Baked Fennel – with Parmigiano shaved on it. It’s divine. I haven’t made that in awhile, but this time I wanted to make something different. I read about this recipe online (at Fine Cooking). I made half of the below recipe and I had ample left over. I sent most of it home with my D-I-L Karen, enough for them for a meal. Vaughan, my grandson, did take one itty-bitty-teensy-weensy bite and proclaimed a resounding “no.” Even though I told him it had orange juice
in it. Nope, he was having none of it. He used to be much more adventuresome about food, but as he’s getting older (he’s 7), and probably with peer pressure at school at lunchtime, he’s much more picky. He doesn’t like whipped cream. What kid doesn’t like whipped cream? Well, he doesn’t. He loves green beans, though. I can always get a home run with him if I bring green beans. He wants food to have texture – whipped cream doesn’t have any, and this cooked fennel had very little (too soft for him, I suppose). But he loves marshmallows. Go figure!
Fennel does have a hint of anise to it (it’s in the same family) – which probably turns off some people – but to me it’s very mild, and when it’s cooked, I don’t get any of that anise flavor at all. So if you’ve never liked raw fennel, you might like it cooked.
First, with this dish, you brown the wedges of fennel in some olive oil until they’ve taken on some golden brown tinges. Then those are removed to a baking dish. Then you add garlic to the pan, then wine and broth. The orange juice is added along with some toasted fennel and coriander seeds, salt and pepper. The orange peel strips (that you shave off the orange with a peeler) go in to flavor the whole dish. Foil covers the dish and it bakes for 1 1/4 hours. Hopefully you have a few fresh fennel fronds to sprinkle on top. At right is a photo I took of the dish before it was baked.
What’s GOOD: I happen to love the texture of baked fennel – soft and smooth. Easy to slice. It becomes quite bland when it’s cooked, so you do want to have some other flavoring (hence here the orange, fennel seed and coriander seeds). I liked it just fine. It’s not exactly a colorful dish, so the orange strips certainly enhance its appearance.
What’s NOT: nothing really – it was delicious.
Files: MasterCook 5+ and MasterCook 14 (click on link to open recipe in MC)
* Exported from MasterCook *
Braised Fennel with Orange, Coriander & Fennel Seeds
Recipe By: From Fine Cooking magazine
Serving Size: 8
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 pounds fennel bulbs — stalks trimmed and bulbs cut into quarters (cores left intact), fronds reserved for garnish
2 medium cloves garlic — thinly sliced
1/2 cup dry white wine — or dry white vermouth
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 medium naval orange
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds — toasted and lightly crushed
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds — toasted and lightly crushed
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 325°F.
2. Heat 2 Tbs. of the oil in a heavy-duty 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add half the fennel, cut side down. Cook undisturbed until browned in spots, about 2 minutes. Flip and repeat on the other cut sides.
3. Arrange the fennel browned sides up in a large (10×14-inch) gratin or shallow baking dish. Add the remaining 1 Tbs. oil to the skillet and repeat with the remaining fennel. Lower the heat to medium if any smoking occurs. It’s OK if the wedges are snug in the baking dish; they’ll shrink as they braise.
4. Add the garlic to the skillet and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the wine and scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to dissolve any browned bits, about 1 minute. Add the broth and simmer to meld the flavors, about 2 minutes. Pour over the fennel.
5. With a vegetable peeler, remove three 3-inch strips of zest from the orange and then juice the orange. Nestle the pieces of zest in the fennel and pour the juice over. Sprinkle with the fennel seeds, coriander seeds, 1 tsp. salt, and a few grinds of pepper.
6. Cover the dish tightly with foil and braise in the oven until the fennel has collapsed and a paring knife penetrates the cores with no resistance, about 1-1/4 hours.
7. Spoon some braising liquid over the fennel, garnish with the reserved fronds, and serve hot, warm, or at room temperature. The fennel may be made 2 days ahead of serving. Uncover and cool to room temperature before refrigerating it (covered). Let the fennel come to room temperature before serving. Or reheat it, covered, in a 325°F oven.
Per Serving: 117 Calories; 6g Fat (41.8% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 15g Carbohydrate; 5g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 89mg Sodium.
Madonna
said on April 9th, 2015:
I must try your recipe – orange and fennel sound like a perfect pairing. I love fennel, both roasted and raw. I made fennel, apple, pomegranate salad with lime vinaigrette. It is delicious. I love that I have discovered fennel.
It is a wonderful vegetable – and really, it’s just been here in the U.S. for about 20 years. Americans are late bloomers, sometimes, about unusual veggies. I just returned from a trip to Europe, and we ate fennel and saw it at the markets everywhere. . . carolyn t