The White Hat Guide to Fennel

Three simple suggestions for what to do with fennel.

1. Substitute for celery in many recipes and expect a pleasant hint of aniseed in the finished dish.
2. Slice very finely (using a mandoline) to create the base for a winter salad. Try for instance finely sliced fennel, finely sliced red onion, quartered cherry tomatoes, walnuts, a few olives and a dressing of olive oil and lemon juice or sherry vinegar. Top with shaved parmesan.
3. Roasted. Chop off tough bottom and remove tough outer layer. Chop off stalks and fronds. Reserve all these for soup or stock. Cut fennel into segments (like an orange). Toss segments in a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Place on a baking tray (using baking paper if desired) and roast in a moderate oven 10-20 minutes until they are starting to brown on the outside. Remove and serve with whatever else is going. Many people choose to remove the hard ‘core’ but we quite like it in the baked version. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat that bit, but most households have a dog or a male biped that will eat anything so pass this bit on to them.

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