Sicily: The Discovery of Fennel

I?m not sure how I?ve eaten 3 (sometimes more) meals each day for over 26 years and not discovered the fresh aniseed-ey goodness of fennel. At any rate, I have discovered it and I have definitely folded it into my ingredients list. To begin my first blog post on a note of such awe is fitting, if I can keep discovering such simple, natural and vital wonderments as fennel then I'm on the right track.



In my new (but thorough) experience (I've eaten fennel every second day for the last 2 weeks) I think the strong and unique flavour of fennel is best enjoyed in uncomplicated dishes such as a fresh fennel pesto that can be enjoyed with pasta or simply with fresh bread or crackers and a simple 5 Ingredient fennel salad.

A lesson I?ve learnt is to work with what you?ve got, with what?s in season.  Once you know what role each ingredient plays within the flavour of a recipe you can change, adjust and tweak the recipe to adapt to seasonal availability.  For example the fennel pesto easily becomes the more traditional basil pesto or a rocket pesto depending on if its Spring (fennel), Summer (basil) or all year round (rocket grows during all seasons).

FYI ginger and fennel do not a good combination make.  I attempted the fennel pesto recipe with ginger instead of garlic and the outcome was a little disastrous ? methinks the somewhat bitter fennel and the hot and sweet ginger should be kept at opposite sides of the fry pan.

100gms fennel leaves. You can use the fennel bulb if it's sold without the leaves - if so use the whole bulb for this recipe.
200 ? 300gms olive oil
1 clove garlic
100gms parmesan cheese (or any strong cheese, as long as it?s not too salty)

Simply place all ingredients in an electric food processor and blitz it until you have a paste. Easy! Amounts will depend on individual tastes; being a little health conscious I added more fennel then instructed though if you prefer a creamier dip then let the cheese flow! The pesto can be either stirred into cooked, drained pasta and served immediately or eat it as you would any dip (with wine and crackers?).  It can also be stored in the fridge for a few days ? simply add more oil if it gets dry.



2 fennel bulbs, dissected and washed thoroughly
1 large spring onion
3 tbs. olive oil
½ tsp. pepper
1 tsp. gomasio (or ½ tsp. salt)

2 fennel bulbs are chopped roughly and combined with one large spring onion, pepper, gomasio or salt and a generous slurp of olive oil (the good stuff, don?t be cheap when it comes to olive oil) and stirred before serving. I ate it with fresh panini, cherry tomatoes and smoked cheese as a delicious lunch, it would also be a great accompaniment to a plain pasta dish or would go well with creamy flavours such as avocado, cheese and yoghurt.

This Little Green Book food blog bringing you Italian recipes, Sicilian recipes, Australian food recipes and online recipes. Words by Oni Oost, food photography by Sydney based Liz Laughton at pixelchicken