It’s been a while since I did a food post: not because I don’t cook, but because of the issue with the pictures. I’ve complained about it before – I don’t make things especially for the blog, so it’ll either be too dark to take photos once I’m done or there will be guests and it would be awkward to start making flatlays.*

My Humble Vegetable project is nevertheless ongoing, as I’m constantly looking for delicious ways of preparing vegetables. This fennel dish is my latest addition to the series. It might seem weird to roast things in summer, but I cannot eat salad all the time, I really can’t. The aromatic, anise-like flavour of fennel also makes it a good summer vegetable, I believe. And Belgian/Estonian summer does not mean constant, sweltering heat anyway, as I have mentioned on several occasions.

You will need:
– two fennel bulbs
– a tablespoon of butter
– a tablespoon of brown sugar
– a little salt
– one orange

Trim the fennels and remove the outer layer if it’s brown or damaged. Quarter the bulbs and cut the quarters in half (or more) lengthways, so that the layers are still connected at the bottom. Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the sugar, stir and wait until dissolved. Add the fennel pieces to the pan and fry for 3-5 minutes, depending on how caramelised you like your fennel to be. Keep turning and stirring and add extra butter if needed.

If you like the crispiness of fennel, you could stop here. I prefer my vegetables excessively roasted, so I’ll transfer the fennel mixture into an oven dish (the ones shown are from Staub) with a little salt. Before roasting, I squeeze the juice from one orange over the fennel and also add pieces of the same orange to the dish for extra flavour. Two hours at 150 degrees will give you very soft, caramelised fennels (do turn them around a couple of times to avoid drying out), but you can experiment with temperature and cooking time to get the texture you like.

I think that the fragrant fennel, the richness of butter, the zing of orange and the sweetness of sugar make for a great, well-balanced mix. You can also add fennel seeds if you REALLY like the taste of fennel. The quantities above make enough for two people, as a side dish. One fennel per person is generally a good rule of thumb.

* I had a huge The Great Game inspired dinner a month ago that I will write up for the blog, once I can find a solution to the picture situation.