Fennel Soup Recipes

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the fennel, onions, and thyme and saute for 20 to 25 minutes, until the onions and fennel are very tender and caramelized. (You can add a little water if it starts to stick.) Deglaze the pan by adding the brandy; reduce the heat to medium and cook for 3 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan. Add the sherry and white wine and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Add the chicken stock, salt, and pepper and continue to cook, uncovered, for another 15 minutes. Add the Pernod and cook for 5 more minutes. Check for salt and pepper.
• Preheat the broiler.
• Ladle the soup into 6 to 8 ovenproof bowls and place 1 or 2 slices of French bread and a handful of Gruyère cheese on top of each bowl. Place the bowls on a baking sheet and slide them under the broiler for 3 minutes, or until the cheese is brown and bubbly, and serve.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Make the broth: Cut off the dark green tops of the leeks and put in a large pot along with the fennel stems and fronds; add 8 cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium, cover and simmer 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, halve the remaining leeks lengthwise, then thinly slice and rinse. Put the carrots and half each of the sliced leeks and diced fennel on a foil-lined baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper, coat with cooking spray and toss. Roast until golden, about 25 minutes.
• Meanwhile, melt the butter in a Dutch oven or pot over medium-high heat. Add the remaining leeks and fennel and cook, stirring, until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the potatoes and 2 cups of the prepared broth. Cover and cook until tender, 15 minutes. Add 4 more cups broth and the milk; bring to a boil. Working in batches, transfer to a blender and puree; season with salt and pepper.
• Ladle the soup into bowls; top with the roasted vegetables and chopped herbs. Spread the ricotta on the toasted bread and season with pepper; serve with the soup.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• In a large bowl, toss the potatoes with 1/4 cup olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes, until cooked through.
• Saute the onions and fennel with 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large stockpot on medium heat until translucent, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the roasted potatoes (including the scrapings from the pan) and the chicken stock. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 1 hour, until all of the vegetables are very soft. Add the heavy cream and allow the soup to cool slightly. Pass the soup through the largest disk of a food mill or chop coarsely in batches in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Taste for salt and pepper. Reheat and serve hot.

Steps:

• Heat the butter in a large saucepan, add the fennel and onion and cook over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Add the chicken stock, increase the heat to high, and bring to a boil. Add the peas and cook for 3 minutes, until the peas are tender. Off the heat, add the salt and pepper.
• Puree the soup in batches with a food processor fitted with a steel blade or with a stick blender. Pour the soup into a large bowl and repeat until all the soup is coarsely pureed. Whisk in the creme fraiche and taste for seasoning. Reheat the soup in the saucepan and serve hot with a drizzle of olive oil and some croutons on top.
• Heat the olive oil in a large (10-inch) saute pan until hot. Add the bread and cook over medium heat, tossing frequently, until the bread is evenly toasted and browned. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Yield: 2 cups

Steps:

• Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat and cook onion until soft and translucent. Whisk in flour and stir until a paste forms, 3 to 5 minutes. Whisk water and vegetable bouillon into the saucepan. Add fennel and bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until fennel is soft, 15 to 20 minutes.
• Puree soup with an immersion blender. Stir in cream. If soup is too thick, add more water as needed. Season with salt and pepper.
• Chop fennel fronds. Divide soup between 4 bowls and sprinkle with fennel fronds.

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat and add the onion, celery, chopped fennel and a generous pinch of salt. Cook gently for about 5 to 8 minutes, until the vegetables have softened and lost some of their volume. Add the potatoes, garlic, bouquet garni and the water or stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, add salt to taste, cover and simmer 45 minutes.
• Remove the bouquet garni. Blend the soup until smooth with an immersion blender, or ladle into a blender, working in 1 1/2-cup batches. Remove the center from the blender cover, place a towel over the cover and pull it down tightly to prevent splashing. Blend and return to the pot. Heat through, add salt and pepper to taste and serve, or chill and serve cold, with your choice of garnishes.

Steps:

• Coarsely chop chestnuts, reserving 1/3 cup for garnish.
• Cook shallot and leeks in 2 tablespoons butter in a 5-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring, until softened. Add wine and simmer until almost all liquid is evaporated, about 1 minute. Stir in fennel, broth, chestnuts (excluding garnish), and water, then simmer, covered, 20 minutes. Stir in half-and-half and cool mixture slightly.
• Purée mixture in batches in a blender until smooth, transferring to a bowl (use caution when blending hot liquids). Return soup to pot and bring to a simmer, thinning with water if desired. Season with salt and pepper.
• While soup is reheating, heat remaining 4 tablespoons butter in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then sauté reserved chestnuts with salt and pepper to taste, stirring constantly, until crisp and butter is browned, about 4 minutes.
• Serve soup topped with chestnuts and drizzled with browned butter.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450°F with rack in lowest position.
• Chop enough fennel fronds to measure 1 tablespoon and reserve. Discard stalks and remaining fronds. Slice bulbs 1/4 inch thick and toss with carrots, onion, garlic, 3 tablespoons oil, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Spread in a 4-sided sheet pan and roast, stirring occasionally, until browned and tender, 25 to 30 minutes.
• Blend half of vegetables in a blender with broth until very smooth. Transfer to a medium saucepan. Repeat with remaining vegetables and water. Thin to desired consistency with extra water and simmer 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
• Meanwhile, finely grind fennel seeds in grinder and stir into remaining 2 tablespoons oil. 3Serve soup drizzled with fennel oil and sprinkled with reserved fronds.

Steps:

• Heat oil and butter in a 6-quart heavy pot over medium heat until foam subsides. Add fennel, onion, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, 7 to 8 minutes.
• Add leafy greens (but not spinach) and water to pot and simmer, covered, until greens are tender, about 30 minutes. Stir in spinach and cook, uncovered, just until wilted, about 1 minute.
• Purée soup in batches in a blender (use caution when blending hot liquids) until smooth, then return to pot. Stir in cream and lemon juice and reheat over low heat. Season with salt.
• Cooks' note:
• Soup can be made 2 days ahead and chilled (covered once cool). Reheat or serve cold.

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the quartered fennel bulbs; cook and stir until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Pour in the broth, and simmer until fennel is tender, about 15 more minutes. Ladle into soup bowls, and season with salt and pepper.

Steps:

• In large covered saucepan simmer potatoes in chicken broth and wine until tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in large skillet over medium heat, sauté celery, fennel slices, and onion in olive oil until tender, about 15 minutes.
• Mash potatoes right in the broth mixture in the saucepan with a masher.
• Stir in celery-fennel mixture. Heat through. Season with pepper and salt.
• Chop reserved fennel tops and use to garnish each serving.

Steps:

• Combine the fennel, leek, bay leaf, vegetable bouillon, and water in a pressure cooker. Lock the lid of the pressure cooker, bring it up to pressure, reduce heat to maintain pressure, and cook for 15 minutes. Remove cooker from the heat and let the pressure reduce on its own, 5 to 10 minutes. If your pressure cooker does not have a quick-release function, reduce cooking time slightly as food will continue to cook while pressure releases slowly.
• Stir the olive oil into the soup, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese to serve.

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, saute onion and fennel in oil until tender. Add the broth, beans, tomatoes, thyme, pepper and bay leaf; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until fennel is tender. , Discard bay leaf. Add spinach; cook 3-4 minutes longer or until spinach is wilted.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F with rack in lowest position.
• Chop enough fennel fronds to measure 1 T and reserve. Discard stalks and remaining fronds. Slice bulbs 1/4" thick and toss with carrots, onion, garlic, 3 T olive oil, sugar. salt, and pepper. Spread in a 10" x 13" baking pan that has been lined with parchment paper and roast, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are browned and tender, appx. 30-45 minutes.
• When vegetables are done, remove from oven and cool slightly. Place vegetables in a large soup kettle and add vegetable broth. Using a hand blender, blend vegetables and broth together until very smooth. (Alternately, you can blend the vegetables and broth in a blender in batches, and transfer to a soup kettle when blended.) Thin with water if needed.
• Over medium heat, bring soup just to boiling, and then lower heat to keep warm until ready to serve.
• Meanwhile, finely grind fennel seeds in a spice or coffee grinder and stir into remaining 2 T olive oil.
• Serve soup drizzled with fennel oil and sprinkled with reserved chopped fronds.
• (Note: fennel oil can be made up to two days ahead and kept at room temperature until ready to serve.).

Steps:

• Heat a nonstick pot over low heat. Add the onion, leeks, thyme, salt, pepper and 1/4 cup of the broth, cover the pan and cook over low heat until the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the fennel, cover, and continue to cook until the fennel is tender, about 15 minutes. Add the remaining chicken stock and bring it to a boil. Cover, lower the heat and simmer gently for 25 minutes.
• Puree the soup in a blender until smooth. Strain it through a fine-mesh strainer. Return any of the puree that does not pass through the sieve to the blender, puree again and re-strain, repeating until all the soup has been used. The soup can be refrigerated at this point for up to 3 days.
• Just before serving, slowly bring the soup to a simmer, remove from the heat and whisk in the milk. Ladle into bowls. The soup can be garnished simply with the reserved fennel tops and chopped parsley. For a more festive -- and flavorful -- dish, add a dollop of red-pepper mousse.

Steps:

• Place fennel in a 5-quart casserole with a tightly fitting lid. Toss with olive oil. Cook, covered, at 100 percent power in a high-power microwave oven for 32 minutes, stirring twice.
• Remove from oven and uncover. Immediately scrape mixture into a food processor. Process for several minutes, stopping from time to time to scrape sides of bowl, until mixture is very smooth.
• Add fromage blanc and process until smooth. Add lemon juice and 2 cups of the chicken broth and process until smooth.
• Scrape mixture into a large bowl. Whisk in remaining 2 cups chicken broth, salt and pepper.
• Refrigerate until cold. Coarsely chop 1/2 cup of the fennel tops and sprinkle some over each serving.

Steps:

• Melt butter in a heavy pot over medium heat. Add fennel, carrots, celery, leeks, thyme, and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables soften but do not brown, 30 to 45 minutes.
• Pour broth into the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until all of the vegetables are cooked, about 10 minutes. Remove the thyme stems and bay leaf. Puree soup using an immersion blender.

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the onion and all but 1 cup of the sliced fennel, season with salt and pepper and cook over moderately low heat, stirring frequently, until softened but not browned, about 10 minutes. Add 6 cups of water and bring to a boil. Cover partially and simmer the soup until the fennel is very tender, about 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a small skillet, melt the butter in the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the remaining sliced fennel and season with salt and pepper. Cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until the fennel is tender and lightly caramelized, about 5 minutes. Keep warm.
• Transfer the soup to a blender; puree in 2 batches until smooth. Wipe out the saucepan.
• In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with the lemon juice. Whisking constantly, slowly drizzle 2 cups of the hot soup into the eggs. Return all of the soup to the saucepan and stir over moderately low heat just until thickened, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls, top with the caramelized fennel and chopped fennel fronds and serve.

Steps:

• In a large heavy saucepan cook the julienned fennel and the shallots in the butter over moderately low heat, stirring occassionally, for 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Simmer the mixture, covered for 15 minutes or until the fennel is just tender but not soft, and remove the pan from the heat.
• In a heatproof bowl whisk together the lemon juice and the yolks. Whisk 1 cup of the soup liquid, a little at a time, into the yolk mixture. Add yolk mixture to the soup, whisking.
• Return soup to the stove and reheat over low heat, stirring constantly.
• Stir in the minced fennel leaves just prior to serving.

Steps:

• Heat the butter in a large, deep (preferably non-stick) sauté pan, over a medium heat, add the sliced fennel (NOT the strips of fennel), sliced leek and finely chopped garlic, and sauté, while stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes or until the fennel, leeks and garlic are beginning to soften.
• Remove from the heat, and set aside.
• In a large pot, heat the stock, add the rosemary sprigs, thyme and nutmeg and bring to the boil.
• Simmer over a low heat for about 15 minutes.
• Remove the rosemary sprigs.
• Add the fennel, leek and garlic mixture to the pot, and stir to combine all the ingredients.
• Set the pan in which the fennel, leek and garlic were sautéed aside, for re-use later.
• Allow the soup to cool slightly (10 minutes cooling time should be ample), then blend it in batches in a blender or food processor until smooth.
• As each batch is blended, pour the blended soup into another pot or pan, perhaps the deep pan used earlier to sauté the fennel, leeks and garlic.
• Once all of the soup has been blended, stir it to ensure that it is of an even consistency (inevitably some batches were probably thinner than others).
• Stir the sour cream and the 1/4 cup of parmesan into the soup.
• Reheat the soup over a medium heat until it is hot, but do not allow it to come to the boil.
• Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• Turn off the heat and leave the soup covered so that it stays warm.
• In a small non-stick pan, heat the oil, and sauté the extra leek for 2-3 minutes, or until softened but not browned.
• Ladle the soup into warm soup bowls and top with the sautéed leek.
• Garnish with the extra parmesan and sour cream, and serve immediately with warm crusty rolls.
• Chef's Note: Since posting this recipe, and since last making this soup, I have found and posted a fabulous recipe for vegetable, quite unlike others I have used in the past: Vegetable Stock Recipe #135453.