Braised Fennel

Braised fennel © kvalimad.dk

Braised fennel is a nice side dish that takes raw fennel’s sharp anise flavour and turns it into something mild, sweet, and lightly caramelised. The fennel quarters are briefly boiled, then browned in butter with lemon juice.

Ingredients

Serves 4

  • 4 medium fennel bulbs
  • water
  • salt
  • 30-40 g butter
  • ½–1 tbsp lemon juice
  • pepper
  • 1–2 tbsp parsley, chopped

Method

Boil the fennel

Trim the fennel bulbs and cut them into quarters. Boil in lightly salted water for about 10 minutes. Drain thoroughly.

Braise in butter

Add butter and brown the fennel quarters over fairly high heat until golden. Lower the heat. Add lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Let the dish simmer gently for 5–10 minutes.

Serving

Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve as a side dish.

Notes

  • Fennel is a good side dish with fish, chicken, and lamb.
  • The lemon juice balances fennel’s sweetness and lifts the flavour.
  • Save the fennel’s green tops — they look like dill and can be used as a garnish.
  • Fennel can be frozen: cut into halves or quarters, blanch for 4 minutes with ½ g ascorbic acid per litre of water. Cooking time after thawing: 8–10 minutes.