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All photos - Copyright - ©2011 - La Casa e Il Giardino – picasaweb |
Fennel is a perennial plant (often cultivated as an annual) that grows wild throughout the Mediterranean and California. The sweet bulb fennel we find in the produce section at the grocer is known as Florence fennel or finocchio in Italian. It's is a powerhouse food: every part is edible, from the common bulb to the stalk, foliage, seeds, and even pollen, which is harvested from the plant's yellow blossoms.
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| Fennel pollen harvested from plant's yellow blossoms |
If you never tasted or cooked with fennel, now is the time to fall in love with it.
Fennel's subtle, anise flavor works just fine on its own, but does wonders when combined with other foods. The stalks tend to be fibrous, like celery. I add them to stocks, roasts and braises.
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| Chicken soup with fennel (brodo di gallina) |
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| Blood oranges and fennel salad Insalata di arance sanguine e finocchio |
A mixed seafood salad has more flavor when chopped fennel fronds are included in the ingredients.
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| Seafood salad - Insalata di pesce |
My sausages contain fennel seeds. The slightly sweet anise flavor of the seeds complements the hot spices in the sausages.
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| Home-made sausages |
My suggestion, if you passed fennel by in the produce section, take a second look.
https://casa-giardino.blogspot.com/2016/09/blood-oranges-town-crier-and-my.html
oh how beautiful! I love your salads. I have cooked fennel but it just does not compare with eating it fresh and raw. When I go to Italy I buy it constantly, as my standby vegetable because it is so much cheaper there. Where I live it is often 5 bucks a pound and not even very good, so it is a real treat when I can get it.
ReplyDeleteMimi - I pay $.99 each bulb. We also like it raw but I must tell you, it's great in soups.
ReplyDeleteI love fennel seeds in my sausage..the best. I've also braised , roasted and have added it to salad as well as pasta sauces. What is your recipe for sausage? Do you make yor own?
ReplyDeleteWendy - Thank you for commenting. Yes, we do make our own sausages. We use pork butts. After grinding the meat, I add salt, black pepper and fennel seeds and powder. I do not know the exact amount of salt as I do everything by eye and taste. I suggest you start with one butt and see what happens.
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