Training: Ride 25km
The weather was against me this morning and I woke to steady rain. Not wanting to give up on my scheduled training ride, but also not wanting to catch a cold, I headed to the gym for the next best thing….an hour spin class!
25km of spinning later and my training ‘ride’ for the day was officially done…sans magpies and sans cold!
Dinner
I was late with our dinner tonight as we were baby-sitting our friends kids until after 8pm. Considering I like to eat dinner at around 7pm, I tried to keep the hunger demons at bay by snacking. But it seemed that no amount of snacking could take the edge off and I was still quite hungry by the time we finally sat down to our meal.
Lucky for us (and our tummies) I had a delicious Mystery Box ingredient to work with…
Fennel!
Did you know? Fennel is related to celery, with both plants being part of the parsley family. Not only offering a wonderful 'aniseed' flavour, this tasty plant has a place in history. The ancient Greeks knew fennel by the name "marathon", and the famous "Battle of Marathon" was so named as it was fought on a field of fennel! In Greek mythology, Promethus also used the stalk of a fennel plant to steal fire from the gods.
While I had no intentions of stealing anything using my fennel bulbs, I was keen to try a recipe I came across in one of my favourite cookbooks.
Fennel braised with balsamic vinegar and honey.
I browned the quartered fennel bulbs in a little butter and olive oil, then added balsamic vinegar, rosemary, honey and water.
Simmered until soft, then bubbled until the liquid had evaporated.
Served with a grilled chicken breast for protein.
Oh. my. goodness.
The usually strong aniseed flavour really mellowed with cooking, resulting in fennel that was soft, sticky and sweet.
My only regret was not making more as I could have eaten the whole bowl-full! I strongly recommend that you go out and buy some fennel and braise it with balsamic and honey sometime soon!
Seriously - if Promethus had presented balsamic fennel to the gods I am sure there would have been no need to steal the fire as they would have given it to him!
What about you? How do you like to use fennel?
Happy Baking :)
Posts
Fennell took awhile to grow on me - such an adult taste
ReplyDeleteI've never cooked with fennel before. I heard it has a licorice taste, and I'm not a fan of licorice......... :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've ever tried fennel. Quick question: how do you always have the ingredient on hand that gets pulled out the mystery box?
ReplyDeleteI love love LOVE fennel! I often slice it and cook it in stirfries (giving it a bit of time first before adding other vegies), but apart from that usually just roast it with oil. I MUST try this recipe, though, as I also love balsamic vinegar!
ReplyDeleteI've never cooked with fennel - you make it look so good!
ReplyDeleteI've never tried & actually I don't think I would like it at all. But yours looks good!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've ever tried fennel. Maybe I need a box full things I've never eaten, and pull out of that every night.
ReplyDeleteYou know I've never seen fennel bulbs quartered - only thinly sliced. This looks fantastic!
ReplyDeleteI have never used fennel before ... and to be honest, I'm not sure I've eaten it at all ever. Hmmm...something to think about.
ReplyDeleteYou cook that late?? If I got home after 8 I would have been eating something much quicker than that! Like eggs or a veggie burger. Impressed!!
I like fennel sliced in salads, and I like fennel SEED in cream cheese frosting for a fruity cupcake... Mmmm!
ReplyDeleteI really wish I liked fennel! It's such a turnoff to me, though.
ReplyDeleteI loove balsamic and honey together!!
ReplyDeleteI love fennel but usually make it into a salad (fennel and chickpea salad being a favourite). However, the way you have cooked it looks amazing! I'm going to give that a go next time I have fennel!
ReplyDelete@ Katie - I like to draw an ingredient out either the morning or the weekend before - that way I can go to the shops and buy it!
ReplyDeleteAlso - trust me guys when I say that the slow cooking time + balsamic + honey = a really sweet mellow flavour. I am not the hugest fan of raw fennel - but cooked this way I could eat a whole plateful :)
I love fennel in curries normally, but I am going to try what you did :)
ReplyDeleteI am an absolutely fennel freak. My parents have just bought a house in Cowra, and are becoming semi-regulars at Neila restaurant, where they bring me back this fantastic spiced pickled fennel. I eat it on eeeeeeevverything. Especially great with cheese (fancy ploughman's lunch! :p). Love it baked into macaroni and cheese..a-maaazing :D
ReplyDeleteI'll have to give it a try. I don't mind fennel raw, but have never been a fan of it cooked. The sweet stickiness sounds good though. Yumm...
ReplyDeletelove the fennel mythology - and I would love to try this recipe - am never very brave with fennel but have had great success in a fennel and rice soup
ReplyDeletei've never made fennel before, but it looks delicious! that cook book is really popular, hey? i see it everywhere!
ReplyDeleteI love fennel and your braised recipe looks wonderful. I like it shaved raw on salads. It's also wonderful in a curry type soup with apples (yes, apples and fennel like each other). Eat fennel and run fast!
ReplyDeleteMelissa
I never cook with fennel cause I don't really know what to do with, but that looks so good and I have that cookbook too, so I will definitely be making that in the near future!
ReplyDelete