FENNEL, HOT AND COLD.

People run a bit hot and cold about fennel. So here’s how to eat it at its best and simplest, both hot and cold.

Fennel really should be in season in summer, so we could live on crisp, lemony fennel salads for months on end. It’s perfect barbecue and picnic stuff. So why, grrrrr, is it at its best in winter?

Anyway, you’ll be pleased to hear that I have finally solved this built-in dilemma, by turning shaved fennel into a winter salad (duh), and by caramelising it until soft and sweet, to have as a winter meal. Any fennel dish that sits on the spectrum between those two, I just don’t get.

FENNEL, COLD:

A shaved fennel salad with the pop of pomegranate and the creamy, salty richness of feta is at once crunchy, soft and tangy, with that elusive anise coming at you in varying degrees with every mouthful.

• I love it with fatty meats for cut-through, and on its own. It’s great with salmon, chicken, lamb and all sorts of ancient grain salads.

• Use a mandolin or electric slicer to finely shave, otherwise it’s just you and a sharp knife. Use the stalks on one side as a handle to give you a good grip.

• Chef’s tip: If you want to shave it ahead of time, drop it into a bowl of iced water to keep it crisp; not lemon juice, which will soften it.

• Always save the fronds of fennel to use as a herb garnish on top of the finished dish. Do. Not. Bin Them.

  

SHAVED FENNEL WITH POMEGRANATE AND FETA

• 1 tbsp currants

• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar

• 1 fennel bulb, not too big, base trimmed, fronds saved

• 1 tbsp fennel fronds ( or dill)

• 100 g feta

• 1 tbsp toasted walnuts, roughly chopped, and/or

• 2 tbsp fresh pomegranate seeds

Dressing:

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 tsp Dijon mustard

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• Sea salt and pepper

Soak the currants in the red wine vinegar for whatever time you have before you want to eat.

Shave the fennel as finely as you can.

Whisk the dressing ingredients together.

Toss the fennel in the dressing, crumble the feta on top and scatter with the currants and walnuts and/or pomegranate seeds and fennel fronds.

Drizzle with any remaining dressing and serve. Serves 2.

FENNEL, HOT: 

You wouldn’t think fennel would caramelise in a pan on the stove, but it does, spectacularly. Here it’s teamed with chickpeas and oranges, tossed in honey, orange juice and olive oil and roasted until soft.

Roasting also turns canned chickpeas into something extraordinarily nutty and complex, like miniature chestnuts.

Just don’t overcook them or you will end up with a very crisp snack to have with drinks.

Caramelised fennel is perfect for that “Let’s Have A Nice Piece of Fish Tonight” type dinner, or the “Look I Can’t Even Think About Dinner Right Now So I’m Just going To Throw These Chicken Thighs in The Oven” type dinner.

• Brown the fennel in a pan for 10 minutes then move it to the oven to finish cooking – it’s quite amazingly soft and squishy, almost jelly-like, when cooked through.

• Serve with my go-to bowl of instant fun – natural yoghurt topped with a spoonful of harissa loosened in extra virgin olive oil.

CARAMELISED FENNEL WITH CHICKPEAS AND ORANGE

• 2 fennel bulbs, base trimmed, fronds saved

• 1 red onion, cut into wedges

• 400 g canned chickpeas, rinsed

• 4 orange wedges

• 2 tbsp e/v olive oil

• 2 tbsp orange juice

• Half tsp paprika

• 1 tbsp honey or maple syrup

• sea salt

• 1 tsp fennel seeds

Cut the fennel in half right through the core, then cut each half into wedges, trying for flat surfaces that will enable caramelisation against the heat of the pan.

Brown the fennel and red onion in a heavy pan with a little oil, about 5 mins. Turn once and brown the other side, about 5 mins.

Heat the oven to 210C. Whisk the olive oil, orange juice, paprika, honey and sea salt together.

Coat the chickpeas in the dressing and arrange on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Arrange fennel and onion and orange wedges on top, drizzle on remaining dressing and scatter with fennel seeds.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the fennel is soft and the chickpeas are nutty.

Squeeze the baked orange wedges over the top, and serve. Serves 2.

Fennel caramelises naturally in a little oil, takes about 10 minutes.

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Thanks for reading! Feel free to subscribe for more Jill Dupleix Eats in your inbox every Thursday.  And special thanks to my right-hand man, Terry Durack, for bringing home so much fennel I had to come up with a few different ways to have it. Yes, you have divined the science and theory behind my blogging strategy, which begins with “what on earth will I do my blog on this week?”, goes on to “oh blimey, that’s a lot of fennel”, and finishes with “I know, I’ll do my blog on fennel!” He’s an inspiration to us all.

I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. I fully support the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to be enshrined in Australia’s Constitution. It’s about time, folks.