I love fennel! I especially like it roasted with olive oil and a sprinkling of parmegiano which forms a ntty crust. I was told there are "male" and "female" bulbs, and that the female which are shorter, rounder, squatter are tastier or somehow "better'. The male bulbs are more elongated. I don't know if this is true, but I've always searched out the round ones.

Hi, Mimsie.

On the Tony Tantillo site, he suggests the following for fennel stalks. Enjoy!

Don't throw away the stalks or leaves. Chefs use the stalks in soups and stews to add flavor and use the feathery leaves as an herb, similar to parsley. The leaves are particularly good with fish baked in parchment. You can also wet the fronds and stalks and throw them on the grill in lieu of wood chips. In addition to fish, they add excellent flavor to poultry, pork, and lamb.

This was a nice recipe, but I found that the baking time needed to be increased to 40+ minutes for the roasting to actually happen. At 15-20 minutes it was still pretty crunchy, and thus, not so flavorful.

Thanks for the feedback. When I made it again I increased the time and loved the result, so I've upped the cooking time in the recipe. ~Elise

Elise,

I love roasted fennel (and even raw fennel), but I wanted to try BBQ'd fennel - shish kebab style. Do you think that will have the same effect, and what other vegetables would you suggest putting on the skewer?

Thanks!! Love your site :)

Great idea. I would suggest bell peppers, tomatoes, eggplant for veggies, and either pork or lamb for meat to go on a skewer with fennel. ~Elise

Thanks for this simple and effective recipe. I did it for about 40 mins, which led to nice caramelisation and slightly overdone veg (which is how I like it). I did them with carrots, which worked ok (though the carrots had a slightly stringy texture - is this normal when you roast them?) The grated parmesan gave a nice crust and flavour, and the fennel was as a roast veg should be - crispy on the outside but with a lovely virginal white softness to the inner leaves. The balsamic really makes its presence felt at the end of the roasting process, so use with caution unless you want it to dominate everything.

Thank-you for the encouragement to try fennel for our very FIRST time! Looking forward to experimenting a bit more next time :)

I put some of the feathers and one part of the bulb, in a soup base, turkey carcass, but after reading some of the comments here I will be putting in more. The soup is in a crock pot on low, will be letting it cook all night. Will let you know how it turned out. :)

This is my first time trying fennel, it was in my CSA box and thought this is as good a time as any to try it.
Too much of the time we are influenced by others on produce we have never eaten before, for fennel it was I hate licorice and there for don't want it with my food. however upon slicing the fennel I found the aroma to be more spicy kind of like smelling lemony, gingery, with a hint of licorice, mine are in the oven right now. I am looking forward to trying it more ways. Thanks Elise for a wonderful blog and post.