Roasted Fennel Bulb, Motherfuckers! Deal With It!

Fennel is misunderstood. Because the fronds, stalks and seeds have that anise-like black licorice flavor, people who dislike that flavor avoid fennel like the plague. Obviously, these people are wrong and bad, and they should feel bad. Roasted fennel has a mild, earthy, nutty flavor that's really unique, and even people who hate that black licorice flavor *coughcoughDavecoughcough* really love it. Fennel is one of the main spices used in sausage, so roasted fennel often reminds people of delicious sausage.

When you buy fresh fennel, it's probably going to look like this:

If you can, pick one whose bulb is smaller and round, not flat and wide like the one pictured (slim pickins today at the store). For this particular recipe we went with savory ingredients to match the natural sweetness and nutty flavor of the roasted fennel, but I've heard tell of caramelized fennel being one of the best healthy sweet things you can eat.

Here's what you need to make it Piepan-style:

2 fennel bulbs, stalks and ends removed and cut into wedges

1/2 small yellow onion, sliced thin

10-15 green olives, halved (or roughly cut, whatevs)

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 1/2 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp olive oil

a few grinds of black pepper

a teeny pinch of ground cloves

First, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. While you wait, break down the fennel. First, cut off the stalks and the end from the bulb.

Next, let's separate the fronds (the dill-looking leaves) and stalks (the celery-looking parts). You should be left with this:

Next, pull the fronds off of the remaining small stalks, and put them in a container of some kind.

The stalks are wonderful in homemade stock, and also can be used in place of celery in tuna salad, and pretty much anything that calls for celery. They are a bit woody, but have a fantastic licorice flavor that is pretty subtle. You wouldn't want to use them in a dish with a lot of flavors, they can be easily lost. The fronds have a great bright licorice flavor, and get used a lot for sauces for fish and seafood, and are often used as a bed to cook fish on. You can use them wherever you'd use dill. You can also sub them for basil and make a really awesome pesto. Or you could infuse some olive oil with the fennel and maybe some garlic. Fennel bitters! Fennel ice cream! Everything fennel!!

Next, melt your butter, and add the garlic, pepper and olive oil, and simmer for a couple of minutes until the butter is melty but not brown, and the garlic is fragrant. 

Slice your fennel bulb in half vertically, then cut each of the halves into wedges, like this:

That's a half on the right, and a wedge on the left. Now put all your wedges, onions, olives, bit of clove, and butter mixture into a bowl and toss it all around, so everything gets coated evenly. Dump the whole thing into a baking dish and roast 'em for around 40 minutes to an hour. They should be soft, like roasted onions, easy to pierce with a fork, and with some brown bits.

Before:

After:

Put aside your fear and hatred, young padawan. They lead to the dark side, where you use the same three boring flavors again and again in different permutations. The unique nutty flavor of fennel has opened up a bunch of avenues for us, and it can for you, too. Search your feelings; you know it to be true.