It may well appear that I have been on a bit of a fennel spree of late and I guess it is true. But to defend myself, fennel has been in season, beautifully fresh and really cheap to boot!
Fennel is a rather surprising vegetable. It is wonderfully crunchy and the burst of aniseed flavour in a salad is delicious - which is the way that I am most familiar with it.
I had never had it cooked until I was at the River Cottage Canteen last year and tasted it in the Beef and Fennel Curry that we devoured for lunch that day. It was great in the curry and the mellow aniseed flavour really added to the complexity of the dish. This was something that I wanted to explore further and this fennel season I have been.
This gratin I thought would be a delicious combination of fennel, leek and cream. But mostly I had a bit of a glut of these two veg after visiting my local fruit and veg grocer and needed to find different ways of preparing them.
Leek and Fennel Gratin
1 leek cleaned and cut into half a centimetre pieces
1 fennel bulb, finely sliced
1/2 cup of cream
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
a good pinch of quatre epice spice mix or a little nutmeg, ginger, white pepper and cloves
Preheat the oven to 150℃ fan-forced.
Place in a greased oven-proof dish the finely sliced fennel, then the chopped up leek.
Sprinkle a decent pinch of the Quatre Epice mix over the vegetables.
Pour the cream over everything and top with the parmesan cheese.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and bubbling.
This dish is lovely as an accompaniment to roast or grilled chicken.
Enjoy!
monica@loveglutenfreeaustralia
Fennel is a rather surprising vegetable. It is wonderfully crunchy and the burst of aniseed flavour in a salad is delicious - which is the way that I am most familiar with it.
I had never had it cooked until I was at the River Cottage Canteen last year and tasted it in the Beef and Fennel Curry that we devoured for lunch that day. It was great in the curry and the mellow aniseed flavour really added to the complexity of the dish. This was something that I wanted to explore further and this fennel season I have been.
This gratin I thought would be a delicious combination of fennel, leek and cream. But mostly I had a bit of a glut of these two veg after visiting my local fruit and veg grocer and needed to find different ways of preparing them.
Leek and Fennel Gratin
1 leek cleaned and cut into half a centimetre pieces
1 fennel bulb, finely sliced
1/2 cup of cream
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
a good pinch of quatre epice spice mix or a little nutmeg, ginger, white pepper and cloves
Preheat the oven to 150℃ fan-forced.
Place in a greased oven-proof dish the finely sliced fennel, then the chopped up leek.
Sprinkle a decent pinch of the Quatre Epice mix over the vegetables.
Pour the cream over everything and top with the parmesan cheese.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and bubbling.
This dish is lovely as an accompaniment to roast or grilled chicken.
Enjoy!
monica@loveglutenfreeaustralia
