Yes, it’s Monday again, and I don’t know how it happened either.
If you are a follower of ‘Meatless Mondays,’ I think you will love this dish. Ironically enough, it’s adapted from a recipe from one of my favorite places in New York, The Meatball Shop.
If you have never been there, yes, meatballs are the main events but there are always terrific, market fresh vegetable sides to choose from.
You’ll need:
- 1 large bulb of fennel
- 2 T olive oil + 2 T more
- 1/3 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup golden raisins
- 2 T red wine vinegar
- 1 T lemon juice
- 1 cup water
- salt
- parsley, optional
1. Preheat oven to 450F (halfway through, I lowered mine to 425F, so calibrate this depending on your oven).
2. Trim the fennel and chop roughly into 1/2 inch wide wedges, leaving the core intact so that the wedges stay together.
3. Place fennel in a baking dish and toss with 2 T olive oil and a good pinch of salt. Cover with 1 cup of water.
4. Roast fennel for 45 minutes to an hour or until the water has evaporated and fennel is tender. Flip the fennel whenever you check on it, though you want the edges to be slightly crispy.
5. In the meantime, combine walnuts, raisins, remaining olive oil, lemon juice, and red wine vinegar in a small bowl and mix well. The raisins will plump up a bit.
6. When the fennel is ready to serve, top it with the walnut-raisin mixture.
Oh, this is really a great recipe! I love fennel and haven’t roasted it yet.. and with the walnuts and raisins.. almost like dessert:)
Thank you! If you think of it like a dessert, that’s even better. I do love the earthy sweetness that comes out in fennel when you roast it.
i have just sown the fennel so it will be a while before i make this but it looks divine..the meatball shop sounds great, One day i shall get to New york I must!! c
Thanks, C! I hope you have lots of fennel to cook with later in the season :).
Fennel is soooooo good roasted.
I agree!
The things you cook are always so lovely and fresh!
Thank you! That’s very kind of you to say, I do love vegetables and fun, fresh ingredients.
Hm, never tried fennel before, so I just have to put this on my to-do-list! Looks simple enough. Is it good too?
I love fennel and it really takes well to lots of flavors. If it wasn’t good, I wouldn’t share it with you haha :).
I’ll be giving this a go tomorrow – my CSA was packed with fennel this week!
I hope you love it!
I’m slowly warming up to the licorice-flavor, so this dish looks promising to me. Great photos!
I think you’ll find that roasting makes the flavor pretty delicate! And thank you – I’m trying out a new camera:)
I love fennel and this looks like an unusual and delicious way of serving it.
Thanks, Alex!
I have never had fennel with raisins but can so picture how the delicate licorice flavor of the fennel and raisins would match well.
It pairs together extremely well – also not something I would have automatically thought of, but it’s a great combination!
I love fennel but until recently I have only had it raw, I am really enjoying experimenting with different ways to cook them and enjoy them
I love it raw too! But it actually cooks up beautifully and still keeps its texture.
Such amazing flavors! My mouth is watering
Hope you give it a try soon!
Yum! I should be a but more articulate but all I can say is Yum! What a lovely way to eat fennel.
Yum is right :). It’s a great way to serve fennel!