Tuesday 15 November 2016

Fennel Blossom recipe ideas

More inspirational cooking ideas for fennel blossom and the licoricey honeyed flavoured pollen that comes with it.

www.bite.co.nz/hot-topics/in-season/3126/Produce-report-November-28/

Pick of the week: Fennel blossom and pollen

fennel-blossom2.jpg
Don’t walk past that fennel you see growing wild in your garden or on the roadside … it’s even more useful in the kitchen than you might realise. Sure the fronds are wonderful  to bring a mild aniseed flavour to vegetable and fish dishes, to soups and eggs, but it’s the lacy yellow flowers, along with their dried pollen, that have foragers-in-the-know and restaurateurs worldwide waxing lyrical. We spotted packets of the fresh blossoms, along with packets of flowering thyme, at Farro Fresh last week, two crops from Pukekohe artisan growers, Mission Cabana. Add the fresh blossoms with other whole herbs to pickles, sauces, dressings and in flavoured vinegars. Or sprinkle them over salads. For the more adventurous, try baking them in bread or stir through fresh pasta.

Mission Cabana even has a fennel blossom icecream (no machine required) on its website.

And now for the pollen. In summer it could be fun (and impressive) to have a go at harvesting your own but unless you’ve got fennel growing in abundance, don’t expect buckets of the stuff. Pick whole flowers and place them in a bag where, as they dry, you can shake the pollen free. (Fresh pollen is more intense than dried.) If drying your own is a no-go, you can now find hand-harvested Californian fennel pollen in wee bottles on the spice shelf at Farro’s Grey Lynn store. Slightly sweet, it tastes of freshly mown grass with aniseed brightness.

Move over saffron! Here’s how Farro recommends using fennel pollen

• Sprinkle 1 Tbsp over a roast chicken before it goes into the oven.
• Add to ricotta and use to stuff tortellini or, better still, zucchini flowers.
• Mix it with pepper and salt for an amazing bright and zesty sprinkle.
• Sprinkle a little over cooked roast pork.
• Sprinkle over steamed salmon.
• Mix with toasted pinenuts and cumin as a dukkah to sprinkle over meats, salads and seafood.
• Sprinkle over homemade breads just before they go into the oven.
• Mix through a pork-rich meat mix and stuff into a chicken or make your own sausages.
• Add to biscuit dough.
• Add to your pasta dough before you roll it.
• Shred leftover cooked chicken and add a good sprinkle of pollen before you add any grains, seeds or leaves.

Also use fennel sticks or stalks and peel them to use in spa water (refresh every day) with peach slices, cinnamon stick. Also add fennel stick peels to lemon and bitters, or vodka.




Coriander Blossom - Cooking

The coriander blossom has a milder aromatic lemony flavour of the leaves.

Coriander flowers should always be used fresh, never dried.
  • Keep recipes simple to avoid overwhelming the delicate floral flavours with strong spices.
  • Pick you flowers in the morning when their water content is highest.
  • Clean them carefully by shaking them out as they may contain small insects in their folds. Remove the stamen (especially when you are cooking with banana flowers as the stamen tends to bitter the dish), and wash under a jet of water or in a strainer.
  • Drain dry on absorbent paper. DO NOT expose to direct sunlight if you want them fresh.
The blossoms make interesting accompaniments to ingredients such as avocado, carrots, zucchini, tomato, coconut milk, citrus, ginger, mint, lemongrass, chilli peppers, kaffir lime, yogurt, chicken, lamb and white fish. Use as a garnish on zucchini soup.

Sunday 13 November 2016

Fennel - Gardening Tips

Companion planting: Fennel should not be planted near beans, tomatoes, kohlrabi and coriander. Wormwood will stunt its growth so never plant nearby.

Keep track on its growth as it can be invasive.

Likes moist, well-drained soil and full sun.
Perennial. Collect see heads as they form and are still green. Fennel blossom can be collected for its pollen. 

Fennel Stalk Haloumi Salad

Fennel Stalk Haloumi Salad

Ingredients:
4 fennel stalks sliced 1 cm circles
2 cloves of garlic finely sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small packet of Haloumi sheep cheese cut into strips
1/4 red onion sliced
1 small red chilli deseeded and finely chopped
1/2  cup frozen peas (defrosted)
1/2 cup frozen corn (defrosted)
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Garnish - fennel fronds

Method:
  1. Saute fennel stalks and garlic in a frying pan with oil for 5 minutes.
  2. Add the haloumi strips, red onion, chopped chilli, peas, corn and salt and cook for a further 5 minutes stirring to ensure haloumi strips are browned.
  3. Place salad into a bowl and stir through lemon juice.
  4. Add fennel fronds as garnish on top.



Fennel - Cooking Recipes

Cooking Uses:
  • Add the feathery fronds of fennel to salads, soups and sauces for a slight aniseed flavour.
  • Add fronds to soft cheeses.
  • Add fronds and chopped stalk to pickling cucumbers.
  • Chop fennel stalks and add to cabbage, cook, drain and then add fennel fronds through the cabbage.


    Hapuku, Mullet, Mackerel or Bass Flambé au Fenouil

    Grill fish on a bed of fennel fronds, then pour brandy over it; set it alight and serve burning. The burnt fennel will impregnate the fish.

    2 bass                                                            1 glass of brandy
    Pinch of salt                                                  4 tablespoons oil
    3 teaspoons fresh chopped fennel fronds     1 lemon, cut in slices
    1 sprig fresh chopped sage                           Parsley for garnish
    Large bunch of fennel (stalks and leaves)

    1. Wash and prepare fish, dry and salt inside and out.
    2. Fill the fish with chopped fennel and sage.
    3. Arrange a bed of fennel in the bottom of the grill pan.
    4. Brush fish on both sides with oil and place on wire rack of grill pan above the fennel. 
    5. Grill fish, turning once, and brushing with oil from time to time.
    6. Warm brandy.
    7. When fish is grilled, remove fennel bed to flat fireproof serving dish.
    8. Place fish on fennel bed and decorate with lemon and parsley.
    9. Pour warmed brand over, light, and serve while burning.


    Fennel Sauce (use on baked or boiled fish)

    4 oz. butter
    2 tablespoons fresh chopped fennel
    Pinch of salt

    1. Wash the fresh fennel in water.
    2. Melt the butter.
    3. Mix the fennel with the hot melted butter, add salt, and serve.  

  • Source: Claire Loewenfeld and Philippa back Herbs for Health and Cookery.


Saturday 12 November 2016

Fennel - Medicinal Uses

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
Fennel has a licorice aniseed flavour and smell. Fennel's health and medicine uses are the following:
  • Stimulate for milk production for nursing mothers, particularly if boiled with barley.
  • Anti-flatulent and good for indigestion; used for gas, acid stomach, gout and colic in infants (useful in making gripewater). 
  • Fennel seed tea good for upset stomach.
  • Expectorant and helps reduce catarrh (either as a syrup or tea).
  • Reduces weight (reputation of making overweight people lean in classical Greece).
  • A tisane made with fennel can be helpful in maintaining weight control.
  • Inflammed eyes and conjunctivitis: use a compress steeped in fennel tea, place on the eyes, or use an eyewash from the tea of the herb to soothe eyes.
  • Strengthens eyes and is reported to improve sight.
  • A tea made by the herb can be applied to ease insect bits.
  • Fennel rubbed through hands and placed on body as a flea repellant; likewise rub hands through fennel fronds and rub into your cat or dog. Repel fleas around kennels and pet sleeping quarters with fennel fronds.
Fatty oils contained in fennel give it an anti-spasmodic, anti-inflammatory calming effect. Carminative.

Should not be taken while pregnant as can stimulate the uterus.
May also increase menstrual flow.

Essential oil: 1 drop massaged over stomach, particularly good for children.
Herbal oil: 1 or 2 teaspoons massaged over stomach (not as strong as the essential oil)
Infusion: 1 teaspoon per cup, steep 10 minutes.



Sources: Claire Loewenfeld and Philippa Back Herbs for Health and Cookery.
Gary & Steve Null, The Complete Handbook of Nutrition. 

Fennel Anti-aging Pack

For the aging skin make a pack of:

1 tub of probiotic plain yoghurt
1 cup of infusion of fennel seed tea (brew for 20 minutes)
2 tablespoons of Manuka honey (put into warm tea)
1 tablespoon fennel stalk minced (fresh)
2 tablespoons fennel fronds chopped (fresh)

Mix together and apply warm onto a clean face. Let sit for 15 minutes.
It is purported to enliven the skin and smooth wrinkles. It acts as a skin tonic being antiseptic and allays irritation of the skin. (Claire Loewenfeld Herbs for Health and Cookery).