I have a few fennels growing in the garden and the other day only two were big enough to pick. They were certainly bigger than those 'bambino' fennels I see in the supermarkets here in New Zealand, but not as big as the ones I used to get in the markets in Italy. I had to find a way to make them go ... further! So I decided to cook them with bok choy (the only other vegetable really 'active' in my veggie garden), hoping that the strong fennel taste would take over.
Go Further Fennels
Surprisingly enough it worked! I guess that this was a sort of 'Fusion' experiment for me, and I wonder if in Chinese cuisine fennels are ever paired with bok choy. Do you Know??
Anyway, for the recipe: I washed and cut the 2 fennels and 1 bok choy and cook them in a pan with just a little margarine, (not olive oil for this dish) then I added some vegetable stock, covered them with a lid and let them simmer on very low for quite a long time. About one hour. Slow cooking is best with fennel (unless you eat them raw), they have to become really really soft, and the bok choy kind of took in the good flavours too.
Serve hot, as a side vegetable.
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
I love how creamy cooked fennel gets. I've never had it with bok choy either, but I can imagine they would be good together. And they both have sort of bulby bottoms. Sound like a lovely spring dish from the garden.
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ReplyDeleteOh you made me crave fennel!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting! I usually do eat fennel raw so this sounds like a nice change to soften it down so much.
ReplyDeleteI love both of those - I bet it was delicious!
ReplyDeleteAn interesting combination! Those are two wonderful veggies.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Rosa
This sounds like a fabulous recipe! I adore fennel and how clever to pair these two vegetables.
ReplyDelete