Delicious and healthy recipes with fennel 

We give you some delicious, healthy and easy-to-make recipes using fennel. Discover how easy it can be to enjoy such a healthy and delicious food!

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Fennel is a vegetable belonging to the carrot, celery or parsnip family, and if you haven’t really heard of it before, don’t worry: that’s normal. Despite the origins of this product stemming from the Mediterranean basin, it isn't widely used in Spain. However, there are plenty of recipes with fennel that demonstrate the reason for its recent popularity, how delicious it is and how well it goes in different dishes.

But before we delve further, what does fennel look like? And what are its health benefits? Fennel is characterised by being a bulb made up of crispy white layers that look like a spring onion, and stalks or stems that emerge from each layer, like celery. In terms of its properties, fennel is a vegetable which is low in calories and is filling, and contains vitamin A, folates and potassium. It is said to have digestive properties and it is therefore common to see it as the main ingredient in lots of infusions.


Fennel, celery and apple salad

A fantastic way of enjoying this vegetable is in fennel salad; accompanied by celery and apple, it can be unbeatable. Let’s look at how to prepare this delight.

Ingredients

  • cabbage
  • 2 celery sticks
  • 2 green apples
  • 200 g fennel
  • 30 g pine nuts
  • lemon
  • 3 tablespoons apple vinegar
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • salt and pepper

The steps to take are as follows:

  1. Juice half a lemon and grate the zest. Place the lemon juice and zest in a bowl with three teaspoons of apple vinegar, four tablespoons of olive oil and mix together thoroughly.
  2. Wash half a cabbage, chop and place in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper and add a teaspoon of sugar. Then, mix together and leave in the fridge to marinate for half an hour.
  3. Now you just need to add the remaining ingredients. Finely slice the fennel stalks and chop its green leaves, chop the apples and the fennel into pieces. Next, add the cabbage you placed in the fridge and dress with the mixture you set aside earlier. Finally, add the pine nuts.



Cream of fennel soup

Cream of fennel soup is a great way of enjoying this vegetable. Together with the potato, which is another key ingredient in this recipe, this is results in a fabulous dish that can be served as a lunch or evening meal.

Ingredients

  • 1 bulb of fresh fennel
  • 1 large potato
  • 1 onion
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 l vegetable stock
  • 100 ml liquid cream for cooking
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt
  • ground black pepper

In terms of the method, follow the steps below:

  1. Wash and peel the vegetables. Chop the bulb of fennel and set aside a few leaves for serving. Then, slice the carrots, chop the onion and potato.
  2. Pour some oil to the saucepan and add the fennel, fry on a high heat for a few minutes. Add the carrot, then the onion and, finally, the potato. In this step, season the vegetables with salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes for them to soften.
  3. Then add the vegetable stock until it covers everything. When it starts to boil, reduce to a medium heat and leave to simmer for 15 minutes. Afterwards, remove the stock from the heat and blend everything in a blender to obtain a fairly smooth soup. You can add more water if required.
  4. When the soup is ready, add the liquid cream. Stir so everything is mixed fully and cook the soup for a further 5 minutes on a medium heat to add the finishing touch to the texture. Then serve and enjoy! You can serve it with fried or toasted pieces of bread, or pumpkin or sunflower seeds.


Fennel gratin

Roasted fennel. It sounds delicious and tastes even better. Fennel gratin is a recipe that you can also make to use up this vegetable. Its scrumptious Let’s look at how to make it!

Ingredients

  • 4 fennels
  • 2 onions
  • 30 g butter
  • 200 g Bechamel sauce
  • 30 g Gruyere cheese
  • 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
  • salt
  • pepper

Take note of the steps to take below:

  1. Wash the fennel, remove the thicker outer leaves and cut into pieces.  Simmer in salted water for 15 minutes.
  2. Peel and quarter the onions. Leave the salted water to simmer for a while longer with the onions in, approximately 20 minutes.
  3. Strain the fennel and onions and leave to cool.
  4. Melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the vegetables for a few minutes, adding salt and pepper. Also mix the Bechamel sauce and cheese.
  5. Grease an oven proof dish and place a layer of vegetables, a half of the sauce, another layer of vegetables and finish with the rest of the sauce.
  6. Now you just need to sprinkle the fennel with breadcrumbs and place in the oven, preheated to 180º, for around 25 minutes. When a thin golden and crunchy layer has formed, the dish is ready.


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