Nancy
St. Laurent de la Salanque
France
1438 Posts
Posted - Jul 23 2006 : 02:18:03 AM
quote:Originally posted by gramax18
I would like to know how to use fennel. I know about the seeds but I have read that you can use the rest of the plant in cooking. Thanks, Gramax18
Greetings! The fine feathery leaves can be minced and added to a viniagrette type salad dressing; also, you can cut small sections of the stem with the leaves and lay them on top of fish on the grill. If you happen to see caterpillars on the plants, don't destroy them because they are the immature black swallowtail butterfly. Fennel is one of the favorite "host" plants that this particular butterfly lays her eggs on so that when the babies hatch they will have food handy. Happy planting!! Nance
The bulb of fennel is wonderful raw in salads with cucumbers or sauteed in a summer vegetable ragout or roasted with zucchini and served over brown rice or pasta. Yum! I think there was another post about fennel and its numerous cooking uses not too long ago. Check in "garden gate" or "kitchen" or just do a search.
My favorite way to eat the bulb of Fennel is to slice it in decent size chunks, saute it in butter, when it is almost done add heavy cream and some of the chopped up leaves for garnish. You can boil down heavy cream to almost any consistancy you would like and you can add lemon peel or a little grated nutemg as well.
fennel
Posted - Jul 22 2006 : 8:10:52 PM
