Fennel has always been my ‘most’ favorite. Well… the truth? It’s been my favorite since Ive been old enough to know what it was. Marcella describes Finocchio as related to anise, but with a cool, mild aroma. I love it raw in a fresh salad, on pizza, or roasted with olive oil.
This is Marcella’s rendition of Braised Fennel with olive oil. The fennel stalk is sliced and then cooked in water and olive oil. Turn the slices until it becomes lightly browned. When done, the fennel will be tender and the liquid is gone.
Beautiful!
Ciao y’all~
Sandi
Comments
Braised Finocchio — 3 Comments
I hope your excellent photograph will persuade some of those that think finocchio is just for salads to try cooking it. No vegetable is more flavorful.
Sandi, this looks fabulous. I wish I had some of that right now!
Beautiful photograph BTW.
I have made this recipe a couple of times now. It says that you should “add just enough water to cover”, which I assume means submerge the fennel, which is what I’ve done both times. But this seems to be too much water. It took about an hour for the water to cook away, by which time all I had was mushy fennel (delicious in any case). How did you achieve your lovely browned result? (By the way, I used a deep saucepan the first time, and a shallow pan the second time, but on both occasions there just seemed to be too much water).
Regards
Simon
Simon~ I used a shallow pan and just barely covered the fennel. Not enough to boil it, just to cook the liquid off.
I learned with all of Marcella’s recipes… it was worth it to follow the instructions to the letter. She showed us the magic of layering flavors.
Ciao y’all~
Sandi
Turn the slices until it becomes lightly browned. When done, the fennel will be tender and the liquid is gone.
I hope your excellent photograph will persuade some of those that think finocchio is just for salads to try cooking it. No vegetable is more flavorful.
Sandi, this looks fabulous. I wish I had some of that right now!
Beautiful photograph BTW.
I have made this recipe a couple of times now. It says that you should “add just enough water to cover”, which I assume means submerge the fennel, which is what I’ve done both times. But this seems to be too much water. It took about an hour for the water to cook away, by which time all I had was mushy fennel (delicious in any case). How did you achieve your lovely browned result? (By the way, I used a deep saucepan the first time, and a shallow pan the second time, but on both occasions there just seemed to be too much water).
Regards
Simon
Simon~ I used a shallow pan and just barely covered the fennel. Not enough to boil it, just to cook the liquid off.
I learned with all of Marcella’s recipes… it was worth it to follow the instructions to the letter. She showed us the magic of layering flavors.
Ciao y’all~
Sandi