Fennel

Driving around parts of New Zealand, one of the noxious weeds that lines our road system is fennel. With its yellow flowers and thin shaggy leaves it easily seeds and reinvents itself. Even at Pigeon Bay we have fennel growing along the foreshore.

Fennel is delicious with fish and as a condiment in salad. The light aniseed flavour is distinctive. While the common or wild fennel growing on the roadside produces bulbs, in general fennel bulbs that are commercially available are produced from a different plant. Fennel bulb is available from April through to July. Like the herb it has a subtle aniseed flavour and makes for an interesting alternative vegetable. Fennel bulb needs to be cooked in salted water until tender as it can be stringy to eat raw.

The recipe below is a variation on one of Stephanie Alexander's from her book The Cooks Companion. This recipe is generous serving for 2 people for lunch or as an accompaniment for 4 people for dinner.

Fennel, bacon and potato fry

• 1 -2 bulbs fennel,
• 6 gourmet potatoes
• 4 rashes of lean bacon sliced in to small pieces
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh fennel
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley
• lemon juice to taste
• salt and pepper to taste

Cook the fennel bulbs and potatoes in salted water until tender. This can take around 25 minutes depending on the size of the bulbs. Drain well. Slice the fennel into thin slices. Heat a heavy frying pan with a dash of the olive oil and cook the bacon with the fennel seeds. Remove and set aside. Put the rest of the oil into the fry pan and saute the onions and garlic for two minutes then add the potatoes and fennel. Saute until lightly brown. Finally squeeze the lemon juice over the mixture. Let it cook off for one minute. Toss through the bacon and fennel seeds and the fresh parsley and fennel. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.