How To Prepare Fennel? Bake, grill, stew, steam

Fennel is a vegetable with an aniseed taste. The color is white with green offshoots. You can bake, braise, stew, grill, roast and stew fennel. Fennel can be eaten raw or prepared, but how should you prepare fennel?  

How to prepare fennel? 

Fennel should be cleaned before you continue cooking. You are going to cut fennel and cook for 15 minutes. Fry fennel: In a pan with butter and bake for 15 minutes. Fennel stew: Fry the fennel for 5 minutes and add stock. Now stew fennel and stew for 15 minutes. Roasting fennel: mix slices of fennel with oil and herbs, then place on the oven tray for 30 minutes.

Fennel is a versatile vegetable with a distinct taste and fennel can be prepared in many ways. The different preparation methods are discussed in this article. 

Do you want to know exactly how to season fennel? Read our blog Which Herbs For Fennel?  Do you want to know how to store fennel? Read our blog How to Store Fennel?

The fennel you buy in the supermarket is usually already stripped of the leaves. Only the stems are still attached to the fennel. Buy a fennel in the store that has no brown spots and when the foliage is still attached, it should be a fresh green color. Like all vegetables, fennel should also be cleaned under the tap. This is how we remove the dirt and sand. Run this under the tap and wash the fennel by rubbing it by hand.  

How do you cut fennel?

For further processing, the fennel must be cut.  

Take a large kitchen knife and cut off the green stems first. Then cut off the bottom of it. The next step is to cut the fennel in half. You can then remove the hard inside of the fennel.  

During your work in the kitchen, good and sharp knives are essential. This makes work fun and easy. 

The follow-up depends on what kind of dish you want to make with the fennel. The fennel can now be cut into strips or cubes, depending on the recipe.  

How To Cook Fennel?

Wash and cut the fennel as described above. 

Cut the fennel into strips on the cutting board. Place a pan with plenty of water on the heat source and bring the water to a boil. When the water boils, the fennel can be placed in the pan. Also add a pinch of salt to the fennel.  

After about 10 minutes, the fennel is ready. If you want slightly softer fennel, let it cook for another 5 minutes. You can check if the fennel is cooked by piercing it with a fork. The fork should go easily into the fennel. Now remove the pan from the heat and drain the fennel in a colander and serve the fennel and serve the fennel in a bowl.  

How to  Steam Fennel? 

When a vegetable can be cooked, you can also steam it. Steaming preserves the taste, structure and color.  

Wash and cut the fennel as described above.  

Cut the fennel into strips and place them in the steamer basket. Then place a large pan with a layer of water on the heat source and place the steamer basket in the pan. Make sure that the water level is below the steam basket. Put the lid on the pan and bring the water to a boil.  

The fennel is ready after about 18 minutes. You can check this by poking it with a fork. When this goes easy, the fennel is ready. Carefully remove the steamer basket from or from the pan (as the steam is very hot) and serve the fennel on a platter with a little salt.  

How to Stew Fennel?

To stew fennel you always use some liquid, in this case stock. You stew with a lid on the pan.   

Wash and cut the fennel as directed. Boil 125 milliliters of water and add a quarter of a stock cube. Cut the fennel into slices. Put some butter in a frying pan and heat it. Add the fennel and cook the fennel alternately, about 5 minutes. Now add the stock and let the fennel stew for 10 to 15 minutes with the lid on the pan. (You can stew onions and tomato slices with it whenever you want.

The fennel is ready when most of the liquid has evaporated. Add some pepper and place the fennel on a platter. It is ready to be eaten.  

How to Bake Fennel?

Fennel can be baked very well. The fennel is flavored with herbs during baking.  

Washing and cutting the fennel is described above and this should be done first. Cut the fennel into strips and place a pan with vegetable butter on the heat source. Fry some garlic cloves and now add the fennel and fry it. Stir well so that the garlic is well absorbed by the fennel. Put the heat source on medium heat and bake for about 15 minutes. After baking you can add some pepper.

How to Grill Fennel? 

Fennel can also be grilled in the grill pan. First wash and cut the fennel clean as described above. Cut the fennel into slices and place the grill pan on the heat source and heat the pan. Sprinkle the fennel slices with olive oil, salt and pepper and possibly grated zest of the lemon. Place the fennel slices in the grill pan and grill 1 side for about 5 minutes. This side should now have nice grill marks. Turn the fennel over and fry for another 5 minutes. The fennel will now become slightly translucent. If this is the case, the fennel can be removed from the pan. Now do this with all fennel slices.  

Do not put too many fennel slices in the pan, especially not so full that the slices lie on top of each other. Each slice should lie on the bottom of the grill pan. When you can pierce the fennel and the fork goes in easily, the fennel is ready to be eaten.  

How to Roast Fennel?

Before roasting the fennel in the oven, the fennel must first be washed and cut as described above. Cut the fennel into thin strips and place in a bowl. Add olive oil, salt and pepper to the bowl and toss well. Turn the oven on to 180-200 degrees and place baking paper on the oven tray. Place the fennel on the oven tray and spread the fennel well over the baking tray. When the oven is up to temperature, the baking tray can go into the oven, halfway through.   

Roast the fennel for 25-30 minutes until the fennel has browned edges. Turn the fennel over on the baking sheet and roast this side for a further 5 minutes.  

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and serve the fennel on a platter.  

How Fennel Stir Fry

Slice the fennel. Place the skillet on the stove and add butter to the pan. When the butter has melted, add the slices of fennel, sprinkle with some salt and fry the fennel for 5 minutes on a large fire. Stick with it and don’t let it burn.

Add a dash of white wine to deglaze (or stock) and let the fennel simmer for a few more minutes until the wine or stock has evaporated. Now serve the stir-fried fennel together with, for example, rice.  

Fennel Raw Food In Salad

The last way to prepare fennel is easy: fennel can also be eaten raw in, for example, a salad. The anise taste is then at its best.  

Before preparing the salad, the fennel must first be washed and cut as described above.  

Then cut the fennel into cubes or thin strips and prepare the salad to your liking. Fennel goes well with anything you normally put in a salad. Enjoy your meal.  

So, now you know exactly how to prepare fennel!