Yum, Barb, I really like fennel, well enough that I planted some here at the house because I seldom find it in my small local grocery store.

I like it just drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper and roasted, sometimes I add onions. I also like it raw in salad.

I made a chicken and fennel recipe from Food Network that I liked a lot, I think it was one of Giada's recipes. I've also cooked it with pork, but I think it goes better with chicken and fish.

Good for you for trying new things, I keep trying to "expand my food horizons", LOL, and the girls keep asking me what the heck is in my fridge!

Annie

I like it oven-roasted along with other veggies....potatoes, carrots, etc. I've never tried it raw yet.

Annie, you mean like that bitter melon? LOL

I have made this a few times and we love it. I will admit, I omit the Pernod since I was worried the licorice would be too strong for our taste and it is lovely without it. Also, I usually use small clams rather than mussels because we prefer them.

Alexa

Seafood Stew

Copyright 2004, Barefoot in Paris, All Rights Reserved

Prep Time:
30 min
Inactive Prep Time:
--
Cook Time:
40 min

Level:
Intermediate

Serves:
6 servings

Ingredients

3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 small)
2 cups large-diced small white potatoes
2 cups chopped fennel (1 large bulb)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups good white wine
1 (28-ounce) can plum tomatoes, chopped
1 quart Seafood Stock, recipe follows, or store-bought fish stock
1 tablespoon chopped garlic (3 cloves)
1 teaspoon saffron threads
1 pound large shrimp, shelled and deveined (reserve the shells for the stock)
1 pound each halibut and bass fillets, cut in large chunks
24 mussels, cleaned
3 tablespoons Pernod
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
Toasted baguette slices, buttered and rubbed with garlic

Directions

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or stockpot, add the onions, potatoes, fennel, salt, and pepper, and saute over medium-low heat for 15 minutes, until the onions begin to brown. Add the wine and scrape up the brown bits with a wooden spoon. Add the tomatoes with their juices, stock, garlic, and saffron to the pot, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Add the shrimp, fish, and mussels, bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover, and cook for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the pot to sit covered for another 5 minutes. The fish and shrimp should be cooked and the mussels opened. Discard any mussels that don't open. Stir in the Pernod, orange zest, and salt, to taste. Serve ladled over 1 or 2 slices of toasted baguette
Seafood Stock:

2 tablespoons good olive oil
Shells from 1 pound large shrimp
2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
2 carrots, unpeeled and chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 quarts water
1/2 cup good white wine
1/3 cup tomato paste
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
10 sprigs fresh thyme, including stems

Warm the oil in the pan over medium heat. Add the shrimp shells, onions, carrots, and celery over medium heat for 15 minutes, until lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook 2 more minutes. Add 1 1âÂÂ2 quarts of water, the white wine, tomato paste, salt, pepper, and thyme. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour. Strain through a sieve, pressing the solids. You should have approximately 1 quart of stock. If not, you can make up the difference with water or white wine.

Yield: 1 quart

I use fennel cooked more often than raw and particularly like it with seafood. Here are a couple of my favorite fennel recipes.

TOMATO-FENNEL CONSOMME - makes about 6 cups

4 medium-sized fennel bulbs (about 4 pounds)
2 medium-sized onions (about 1 pound), peeled and cut into chunks
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt (less if using canned tomatoes)
6 medium-sized ripe tomatoes (about 2 1/2 pounds), chopped - or three 14 1/2 oz. cans diced tomatoes
A pinch or two of cayenne (optional)
Croutons (optional)

Remove the leafy tops from the fennel, and set aside. Cut the fennel bulbs into chunks. Place them in a food processor with the onions, and pulse together until finely minced. (You can also do this by hand.)

Heat the oil in a medium-sized saucepan. Add the chopped onion-fennel mixture and the salt, and saute over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Lightly rinse out the food processor bowl and set aside to use again later.

Add the water and tomatoes, and bring to a boil. Cover, lower the heat to a simmer, and cook for about 20 minutes. (A little longer wouldn�t hurt. This is an inexact craft.)

Transfer the soup to the food processor and puree. Carefully strain into a large (if you plan to serve this cold) or another saucepan (if you're serving it hot). Don�t press too hard on the vegetables, so the consomme stays clear. Season to taste with cayenne.

Heat or chill the soup, depending upon your taste and the weather. Garnish each serving with some of the feathery fennel tops, minced into tiny bits with scissors. You can also float some croutons on top, if you like.

FISH WITH ORANGE AND FENNEL - serves 2

1 lb. red snapper fillets *
1 tsp. EV olive oil
pinch of salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 Tbs. Pernod **
1 navel orange, peeled and sliced, each slice cut into quarters
1 large fennel bulb, rinsed and finely chopped
1 large red onion, halved root end to stem end and very thinly sliced
1/3 cup fresh fennel greens, rinsed and finely chopped

Slice the fish into two or four equal pieces and place in a small oiled baking dish. Season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with Pernod. Mix together the remaining ingredients and scatter evenly over the fillets.

Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes or 10 minutes per inch of thickness including the vegetables. Test with fork to determine when the fish is opaque, milky white, and cooked through. Serve immediately on warmed plates.

* - redfish, striped bass, halibut, grouper, rockfish, drum, porgy or monkfish can be substituted for the snapper.
** - Pernod, the anise-flavored apertif, reinforces the flavor of the fennel. Use lime juice if Pernod is unavailable but the flavor will be different.

FISH SOUP WITH FENNEL
â¨~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. Slice fennel and onion thinly. Cut the slices in half to make them more manageable when eating.

2. Saute the fennel and onion in olive oil until softened.

3. Add fish broth. If I don't have fish broth on hand, I use instant dashi or fish boullion cubes.

4. Cut fish in bite size pieces. I use ocean perch when available but other firm white fish is fine. Add the fish to the pot.

5. Cut up some of the fennel fronds and add them to the soup. This is for color.

6. Simmer gently for 10 minutes.

Jim

Thanks everybody for the recipes. I am ashamed to admit it, but I cook very little fish==although I love salmon, haddock, whitefish and tuna. My daughter flies out of San Francisco and loves all kinds of fish, so the recipes will go to her. I can always be sure to get a good response from this forum. Some of the other forums are not as active and you don't get much help. Barb

Here's an easy way to cook fennel that I learned many years ago in a cooking class. Combined with zuchinni, the flavors meld really well together:

Slice equal amounts of zuchinni (1/2" thick on the diagonal) and fennel (1/2" thick wedges cut through the root end, leave some root attached so the wedges hold together). Saute in olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, until browned on both sides and cooked al dente.

(When I make enough for more than the 2 of us, I turn the oven on low and put the veggies in a casserole to keep warm as I cook more - then sometimes I sprinkle with a little bit of grated fresh parmesan before serving).

seagrass

I often serve the fennel slices after a large family dinner, just before dessert. I it great for cleansing your palate and aids in digestion if you have over done it.

Try adding some to a pot roast for a differant flavor along with some cannellini beans instead of potatoes.

I was browsing Bon Appetit from a couple of months ago and ran across this recipe - sounds good and may fit the bill for you.

Alexa

Roast Chicken with Fennel, Potatoes, and Citrus
Robbins likes using kosher chickens. "They're salted, so they get awesome flavor without brining," she says.
8 servings

Active: 1 hour
Total: 2 hours

Recipe by Missy Robbins

Photograph by Marcus Nilsson
April 2012
Roast Chicken with Fennel, Potatoes, and Citrus
Ingredients

1/4 cup fennel seeds
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 teaspoons minced garlic plus 1 head of garlic, halved crosswise
4 teaspoons kosher salt plus more for seasoning
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper plus more for seasoning
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
4 fennel bulbs (3 pounds), trimmed, each cut into 8 wedges, plus 1/4 cup fronds
2 pounds fingerling potatoes, halved lengthwise
24 small carrots, peeled or scrubbed
8 shallots, halved lengthwise
3 lemons, 1 thinly sliced, 2 halved
1 orange, cut crosswise into 8 slices
8 tablespoons olive oil, divided, plus more
2 4-pound kosher chickens

Ingredient Info:
Some people do not consider fennel seeds kosher for Passover. If you'd like, you can simply omit them from this recipe
Special Equipment:
A spice mill

Preparation

Preheat oven to 450�. Toast fennel seeds in a small dry skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until fragrant and slightly darker, 2�3 minutes. Let cool; finely grind in spice mill. Mix fennel, lemon zest, garlic, 4 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. pepper, and red pepper flakes in a small bowl. Set spice mixture aside.
Place fennel wedges, potatoes, carrots, shallots, and lemon and orange slices in a large heavy roasting pan. Drizzle 4 Tbsp. oil over, season with salt and pepper, and toss well to coat. Spread out in an even layer.
Rub remaining 4 Tbsp. oil all over the chickens. Season chickens inside and out with spice mixture. Stuff each chicken with a lemon half and half head of garlic. Tie legs together loosely with twine.
Set a roasting rack over vegetables in pan; place chickens on rack. Roast until chickens are cooked through and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of thighs registers 165�, about 1 hour.
Preheat broiler. Transfer chickens to a carving board and let rest for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, place roasting pan on stove over 2 burners. Transfer lemon and orange slices to a small bowl. Cook vegetables over medium heat, stirring often, until liquid is evaporated, 8�10 minutes. Set pan under broiler; cook vegetables, rotating pan once, until browned in spots, about 5 minutes.
Season vegetables to taste with salt and pepper. Squeeze juice from remaining lemon halves over vegetables to taste.
Carve chickens. Divide roasted vegetables and chicken among plates. Garnish with reserved citrus slices and fennel fronds.

I looked in my recipe file to find one of my favorite fennel recipes, only to discover it came from this forum more than once. I got it when Weed posted it, and she got it from another, earlier post, so I guess I'm resurrecting it again. It is an Alice Waters recipe. I'll paste Weed's post below. (In it, she says she can't tolerate raw mushrooms. I usually don't like them, either, but in this recipe I do like them. With those flavors, I bet either way is good.)

Posted by weed30 (My Page) on Thu, Sep 10, 09 at 20:28

Here it is, vintage 2004 Cooking Forum:
Fennel Mushroom Parmesan Salad
* Posted by: MQmoi (My Page) on Tue, Jul 6, 04 at 16:14
This is the salad that San referred to. I saw Alice Waters make it for Julia. It has a wonderful and fresh, striking taste and we both love it. I just bought some new olive oil today Fruttato style, to make this salad. I can't tolerate raw mushrooms, so I saute them first.

Fennel mushroom parmesan salad

2 small/1 large fennel bulb
Mushrooms
Fresh lemon juice
Parmigiano-reggiano cheese
Extra virgin olive oil, a light, slightly fragrant one works best
Salt and fresh ground pepper
1. Wash and trim fennel bulbs, cut away feathery tops and root end.
2. Using a vegetable slicer or mandolin, slice the fennel as thinly as possible and scatter over a plate or platter.
3. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
4. Shave mushrooms into paper thin slices and scatter over fennel. Season with more salt and pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice and the remaining olive oil.
5. With a cheese slicer or vegetable peeler, shave thin slivers of parmesan on top of the fennel and mushrooms.
Serve immediately.

Sally

I can rarely afford fennel, but love to get it when it is under $2.00/lb. My new favorite slaw is fennel bulb sliced thin, a large green apple shredded, juice of a half a lemon (must be fresh) and a splash of EVOO. Also add the fennel leaves, diced fine. I find the fennel leaves really enhance fennel dishes, so don't discard them. You can add cabbage to this slaw too. Can also add a dab of sugar or honey if you think it is too tart. I find fresh lemon juice less tart than bottled. I have stopped using bottled, and it doesn't really work with this recipe.

Lpink, that sounds fantastic! Will be trying that for sure. I like it roasted, but I've been a little hesitant about eating it raw. Sliced thin in a slaw sounds just perfect, though.

LOL, Ynnej, I was too! But I saw an online video of some chef extolling the virtues of fennel, and now that the price has come down I've been lovin' it up! You can alter the slaw components any way you like, adding more veggies, more dressing, whatever. It's the green apple, fresh lemon and fennel combo that is so good! Like I said, add honey to adjust to your desired level of tartness, I like it pretty tart since that makes it also refreshing. Can also add carrots, celery, whatever.

Barb I just re-read your post and I want to say that I do grilled veggies and roasted veggies, and since I have a gas grill, I can't really tell much difference in taste or texture. In fact, I like roasted even better. About the only differences I can see is a charcoal taste if you use charcoal (which I don't much care for anyway but if you miss that, find some smoked salt to use on your veggies) and grill marks, which you can get inside by just buying one of those grill pans. Honestly, I think grill marks are overrated! You can braise fennel on top of the stove in a grill pan, or roast over high heat in the oven, even broil, and get much of the same tastes and consistency of a grill. In fact, the only reason BF likes to "grill" is it is cooking outside, which is nice but if you don't want the hassle of maintaining a grill, you probably won't miss it. In fact, BF and I hate cleaning our cast iron grill, so we cook in a cast iron pan ON the grill. And yes, supposedly the food "burns off" of the grill, but we've tried, and it doesn't on ours. Plus, grease and food bits get on other parts of the grill and that attracts mice. I went to move our grill one time and two mice scooted out of the bowl of the grill, which is open and has a "grease pan" under it, which we clean.

Thanks everybody. Since my oven is on the blink and I am waiting for Fall to buy a new one, I did buy a new cast iron grill pan, but it is so heavy that I can hardly lift it. I have one of those that fits over the burner of the stove also. I do appreciate all of your help with this and when DD comes home later this month, we will try some of these out together. I envy those of you who have cooking as a passion. Unfortunately, mine is gardening and then it is no fun just cooking for one. You have a tendency to shortcut everything. Barb

Due to weight and space consideratins, I just leave my cast iron pan right on the stove. I just have to slide it along the counter to the sink to wash, and back again! :) I was without an oven for a couple of months, I feel your pain! I got pretty creative with a skillet and braising pan! I even made Irish soda bread in a skillet, the old-fashioned way. I was desperate for some home baked goods!

Barb, if you have or can borrow a Nesco/GE/whatever 18 quart roaster, it works great as an oven for some things. I've baked a pan of brownies in there when I'd promised to provide a bake sale treat and my oven went kaput.

also roasts a very good whole chicken which you can then eat for a week, that's what I do. Chicken pot pie, chicken sandwiches, chicken salad, spicy chicken wraps with the lettuce from your garden and you don't have to cook much of anything else for a few days!
Annie