The homeland of fennel is India and Southern Europe. In the wild, it is found in the Caucasus and the Crimea. For medicinal purposes, the fruits of this plant are used as a cough remedy, essential oil is obtained from it. As a food product, fennel in Russia is underestimated, although it is sold in many large supermarkets. Most buyers simply do not know what and how to cook from it.
Pick your recipe
You will need
-
- For braised fennel:
- fennel bulbs 2 pcs.;
- butter 1 tbsp;
- lemon 1 pc.
- hard cheese 100 g;
- salt.
- For salad:
- onion fennel 1 pc.;
- green salad 2 bunches;
- orange 1 pc.;
- yogurt without additives / low-fat sour cream 4 tbsp;
- olive oil 1 tbsp;
- mint 1 bunch;
- ground black pepper;
- salt.
Instruction manual
1
When buying fennel, look for solid, smooth, and shiny bulbs. They should be bright white, without dark spots, in any case not yellowed, not wrinkled. Despite the fact that fennel is sold all year round in our supermarkets, its season begins in late January - early February. At this time, fennel is the most delicious. As a rule, sweet fennel is sold in supermarkets; it can be eaten without preparation. Raw fennel has a fresh and clean aniseed flavor. If you bake it in the oven, it will become very soft and tender, with a pleasant sweet taste. You can fry fennel in oil, seasoned with lemon juice, bake in broth, stew with cream.
2
Try to put out the fennel. Cut the onions into four parts and fry in a frying pan in butter on all sides. Add water to the pan to cover half the fennel. Squeeze the lemon juice, salt, cover and simmer for 20 minutes over low heat. Then remove the lid and add heat. When almost all the liquid has evaporated, you need to turn off the stove and immediately serve the fennel, sprinkled with grated cheese on top. In this form it is served as a side dish for chicken, meat or fish. Its taste goes well with many products.
3
Make a fennel salad with orange. To do this, cut the fennel in half and thinly cut into half rings. Then wash the chopped fennel under a stream of ice water, dry with a towel or in a salad dryer. Peel the orange, try to free it from rough membranes, cut each slice or divide into two parts. Finely chop the mint. For dressing, mix yogurt with salt, pepper and olive oil, whisk with a fork. Rinse and dry the lettuce leaves. Mix lettuce, fennel and orange, pour dressing on top and sprinkle with mint. This salad must be eaten right away, otherwise it will become lethargic and tasteless!
note
Fennel Recipes. For culinary purposes, fennel uses not only greens and seeds, but also tubers. Fennel greens has a spicy, sweet aroma, vaguely reminiscent of anise. Young shoots make the taste of salads marinades more delicate, and it is also used with pleasure when preserving vegetables, especially cucumbers and cabbage.
Useful advice
If you really want to eat - take fennel, gnaw it - and after a couple of minutes you will feel full. The substances that make up this amazing vegetable also contribute to the burning of subcutaneous fat, remove accumulated toxins from the body, cleanse the blood of toxins and stimulate kidney function, having a weak diuretic effect.