Grilled fennel is an excellent side dish. It goes well with steaks, chicken, fish and pork roast. Fennel has a slight licorice/anise flavor. Give this grilled version a try.
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is a flowering plant species in the carrot family. It is a hardy, perennial herb with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean but has become widely naturalized in many parts of the world, especially on dry soils near the sea-coast and on riverbanks.
It is a highly aromatic and flavorful herb with culinary and medicinal uses and, along with the similar-tasting anise, is one of the primary ingredients of absinthe. Florence fennel or finocchio is a selection with a swollen, bulb-like stem base that is used as a vegetable.
Fennel is used as a food plant by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including in its native range the mouse moth and the Old-World swallowtail. Where it has been introduced in North America it may be used by the anise swallowtail.
Fennel has a very distinct licorice flavor and when it’s grilled becomes a tender, melt-in-your-mouth experience you don’t want to miss.
A 100-gram portion of fennel seeds provides 1,440 kilojoules (345 kilocalories) of food energy, and it is a rich source (more than 19% of the Daily Value, DV) of protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins and several dietary minerals, especially calcium, iron, magnesium and manganese, all of which exceed 100% DV (table). Fennel seeds are 52% carbohydrates, 15% fat, 40% dietary fiber, 16% protein and 9% water (table).
Ingredients:
- Fennel
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions:
- Trim the tops off the fennel. The stringy parts can be used as an herb in your cooking, but aren’t needed for this recipe. You can even use the stalks in place of celery in some recipes, but realize they’ll have a much stronger flavor than celery.
- Trim the bottom of the bulb and then cut the remaining bulb lengthwise into quarters. Rub with olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Place on grill at medium heat to sear the fennel. Move to indirect heat, with the cut side up, and cook covered for about 45 minutes or until fennel is very soft. You can tell when it’s done by texture, rather than time. You definitely want to make sure it’s tender.
Simple Grilled Fennel
Ingredients
- Fennel
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Trim the tops off the fennel. The stringy parts can be used as an herb in your cooking, but aren’t needed for this recipe. You can even use the stalks in place of celery in some recipes, but realize they’ll have a much stronger flavor than celery.
- Trim the bottom of the bulb and then cut the remaining bulb lengthwise into quarters. Rub with olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Place on grill at medium heat to sear the fennel. Move to indirect heat, with the cut side up, and cook covered for about 45 minutes or until fennel is very soft. You can tell when it’s done by texture, rather than time. You definitely want to make sure it’s tender.
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