How to Cook Fennel
From roasting the bulbs to juicing stalks, fennel is a versatile ingredient for various vegetarian recipes. You can transform it into an aromatic side dish or make salads or soups. Fennel has an odd-shaped bulb with branches and hairy leaves, which have a slightly sweet and anise-like flavour when raw. When enjoyed raw in a salad, fennel adds a crunchy texture, but when roasted, it becomes more tender and mellow. While all the parts of the fennel are edible, including the seeds and leaves, the bulb is popular in pizza recipes with pork and fennel. You can use the bulb as a flavourful vegetable for your soups.
If you have never used fennel in your cooking before, it can be challenging to chop up and work with in recipes. If you order family meal kits from HelloFresh, your fennel will be chopped and ready for cooking. Some of our favourite fennel recipes include:
Raw fennel salad: The best way to enjoy raw fennel is to make a quick salad. All you need for the salad is the fennel, lemon juice and olive oil. Mix the raw ingredients in a bowl and serve them garnished with fennel fronds (leaves) or parsley.
Grilled fennel: Add a smoky element to your dish by grilling fennel bulbs. To grill the bulbs, slice them in half and brush them with olive oil. Grill on medium heat until the bulbs are a little charred, then serve with pepper, salt and lemon juice.
Roasted fennel: Fennel becomes tender, mellow, and caramelised when roasted, which is perfect for an aromatic side dish. While roasting takes a longer time, the melt-in-the-mouth tenders are worth the wait. You can roast the bulbs in an oven for 30 to 40 minutes after drizzling olive oil on the bulbs. When the edges are caramelised, serve them with a little butter and salt.
