Fennel is a food that people either love or hate, where some people don't know anything about it. It is a strong flavour that is reminiscent of black licorice, and has the texture of celery. This strongly flavoured vegetable is used to season foods while the seed is used as a digestive aid. Have you ever gone to an Indian restaurant and had a handful of the licorice tasting, candy coated seeds? Those are fennel seeds mixed with anise seeds! Although they are two totally different plants, they are often seen as interchangeable. The peppery-sweet flavour with a fresh, light crunch is surely fennel. And, it can be used in hundreds of dishes and hundreds of methods. Anise seed is stronger and less sweet. We have chosen two methods (one today and one in tomorrow's entry) to share through this blog. Both are flavourful and healthy, and, since it really is a vegetable-like herb, but the important part is that it is Lenten, too!
Fennel offers some health benefits that we knew, and several more that we learned recently. We knew that it can help encourage better digestion and with alleviating bloating. Also, fennel can be a lovely breath freshener. One thing that we learned while reading is that fennel can help reduce flatulence, but if eaten in large quantities, can act as a laxative. So, we have to be careful how much we eat at once, but we need to watch that anyway. Having a little fennel each day may work to keep our systems regular in many points. Stewing the fennel gave us a combination of good, healthy foods in one delicious dish!
For stewed fennel, we took some pointers out of one of Vefa Alexious' cookbook. The stewing process seemed so easy since we had all of the ingredients and the time to slowly stew the fennel on the stove top. But, as we thought that stewing took a long time, this recipe did not. It actually cooked for just under 30 minutes. The preparations were pretty simple and straight forward, so knowing how easy this is makes us want to eat more fennel regularly.
For this recipe, you will need the following ingredients:
1/2 to 1 bulb of fresh fennel
1-2 TBSP oil
1/2 to 1 cup tomato juice, V-8, or tomato-based vegetable juice
juice from 1/2 lemon (2-3 teaspoons lemon juice)
salt and pepper to taste
Start by cutting the fennel bulb. To do this, you want to make the first cut at the base of the bulb, and take away any remaining stem or roots. Typically, the bottom of the fennel bulb is kind of brown in colour from the exposure to the air, that you may want to cut it off just to make everything pretty. But, it is also very hard and it is a core, just like in the center of a cauliflower or a pineapple, so we need to discard that.
Then, cut the long stems at the top of the bulb, saving the fronds for later (fronds are the fuzzy ends attached to the top of the stems). Slice the long parts of the fennel bulb as if you were slicing celery, since they are the same shape. Then, the bottom part of the bulb gets cut in half so you have two half circles. Now, cut the half into small wedges or slices. You want to slice it so each piece is about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick (1-1.5 cm). If you look at the bulb part of the fennel, you should see all the layers that make up this herb (although it is related to a the carrot). And, as you cut the slices, you will see the layers begin to separate, as if you were cutting an onion. This is good because that means that you can more easily see that the pieces of fennel are about equal in size.
Now, chop some garlic. We used three cloves of garlic and chopped them kind of fine. This added just a little flavour in the end of the dish. You can chop the garlic or slice it. If it is sliced, it will blend in with the pieces of fennel bulb, and will be a bit stronger in flavour than when garlic is minced.
Now, heat the oil in a pan. Add the garlic and the fennel. You want to cook this long enough that there is a little bit of colour on the fennel, and that the garlic gets cooked through. Do not worry about if the fennel is still crisp in this step, we are going to allow it to stew in liquid to finish the cooking process. So, focus on getting a little colour on the fennel. This should take about 10 minutes to get all the pieces golden brown.
Then, pour in the V-8 or tomato juice. We choose the V-8 so we didn't have to say, "Oh, I could have had a V-8!" Plus, it has a little lighter tomato flavour than tomato juice. You can use any tomato based vegetable juice you like. Pour the juice in the pan with the fennel, and then mix everything together so the fennel is fully coated. Allow this to simmer on the stove for 10-15 minutes until the fennel is soft and the liquid is reduced. We wanted a little more saucy than dry, so we ended up pouring almost one cup of juice into the fennel. If you don't care about sauciness, then start with half a cup and see how it goes for you.
After about five minutes on a medium high heat, you will know if you have enough liquid in the pan, and you can make adjustments as needed. Sprinkle some salt and pepper into the pan and mix it around the fennel.
Once the fennel is cooked through and is soft, turn off the heat and let the dish stand for five minutes before serving. This will allow the flavours to fully blend and mesh together. When you are ready to serve, sprinkle the fennel fronds on top of the serving dish, as garnish. The garnish will also add another bite of the fennel's spicy sweetness. Serve this warm as a side dish.
Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Romans 13:8-10
Source of video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w4GRhLorhA
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