28 Dec Sun 2014
The Art of Using Fennel
The Art of Using Fennel©
By Arlene Wright-Correll
This week’s email question asks, “Can you tell me a little about fennel seeds and cooking with it?”
Yes, I can. It is a highly aromatic and flavorful herb with not only culinary uses, but medicinal uses also and along with the similar-tasting anise, is one of the primary ingredients of absinthe. Florence fennel or finocchio is a selection with a swollen, bulb-like stem base that is used as a vegetable. I love grilling this. Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is a flowering plant species in the celery family Apiaceae or Umbelliferae.
Fennel, Foeniculum vulgare, is a perennial herb that is easy to grow in most zones and especially in our zone 6. It is erect, glaucous green, and grows to heights of up to 2.5 m, with hollow stems. The leaves grow up to 40 cm long; they are finely dissected, with the ultimate segments filiform (threadlike), about 0.5 mm wide. (Its leaves are similar to those of dill, but thinner.) The flowers are produced in terminal compound umbels 5–15 cm wide, each umbel section having 20–50 tiny yellow flowers on short pedicels. The fruit is a dry seed from 4–10 mm long, half as wide or less, and grooved and should be stored in a dark cook place.
One of my favorite recipes is Stewed Sweet Sausages in Fennel-Tomato Sauce and was created by Chef April Bloomfield. This recipe brings back many childhood recipes of living in Brooklyn and on Long Island, New York.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
12 sweet Italian sausages (4 1/2 pounds)
3 fennel bulbs—trimmed, each bulb cut into 8 wedges, fronds chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
Kosher salt
One 28-ounce can San Marzano whole tomatoes, crushed with your hands, juices reserved
1 cup dry white wine
3 pequin chilies or 2chiles de árbol
Creamy polenta, for serving
Directions:
In a large enameled cast-iron casserole, heat the olive oil. Add half of the sausages and cook over moderate heat, turning, until browned all over, 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate; repeat with the remaining sausages.
Add the fennel wedges to the casserole and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until golden, about 5 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, fennel seeds and 1 teaspoon of salt and cook, stirring, until the fennel is lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and their juices, the wine and chilies. Tuck the sausages into the sauce. Cover and cook over low heat for 15 minutes. Uncover and simmer until the sausages are cooked through and the sauce is thickened, about 45 minutes longer. Garnish the stew with fennel fronds and serve over polenta.
We always serve it over pasta, but you can serve it over anything you want such as rice, orzo or whatever.
May the Creative Force be with you!
Arlene Wright-Correll
Arlene
05:53 PM CST
Comments: