Stewed Fennel Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.
• Trim the fat from the beef, and cut the beef into strips. Put the beef, onions, fennel, and roasted garlic into a large braising pan. Season the mixture with salt, and pepper. Pour the beer over the ingredients in the pan, submerging them. Cover the pan tightly with two layers of aluminum foil. Cook the stew in the oven for 8 hours. Transfer the stew to bowls, and garnish with fennel fronds.
• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
• Cut the heads of garlic in half and sprinkle with extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper, to taste. Wrap the heads in aluminum foil, and bake for 40 to 45 minutes.

Steps:

• Clean and trim fennel bulbs, cutting off fronds. Wash and finely chop fronds, and set aside. Cut bulbs into eighths, and place in a medium saucepan. Add olive oil and 1 1/2 cups water.
• Cover pan, and bring to a boil over high heat; then, immediately reduce heat to medium. Stir fennel, cover, and stew for 5 minutes. Add chopped fennel fronds, ground fennel seed, red pepper flakes, and salt to taste.
• Stir mixture, and raise heat to medium-high. Cook, covered, until liquid has nearly evaporated and fennel is thoroughly cooked and soft, about 10 more minutes. (If necessary, simmer uncovered for a few minutes to reduce liquid.) Remove pan from heat, and add lemon juice. Toss to mix well. Serve hot.

Steps:

• Put beans in a heavy-bottomed pot along with clove-studded onion, bay leaf and rosemary. Add cold water to cover by about 2 inches, cover the pot, and place over high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer, with lid ajar. Check beans occasionally and add water as necessary to keep liquid 1 inch above beans.
• After 40 minutes, add 2 teaspoons salt, carefully stirring with a wooden spoon to avoid smashing beans. Continue cooking until beans are tender, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours total. (Some beans cook more quickly, so begin checking after 1 hour.) Let beans cool in cooking liquid. You may cook beans to this point several hours or up to a day in advance.
• Heat olive oil in a wide deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add diced onions, celery, carrots and fennel, season generously with salt and pepper, then add fennel seed, red pepper flakes and garlic. Cook mixture until softened, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally; lower heat if necessary to keep vegetables from browning. Set aside.
• Meanwhile, if using yellow carrots, simmer them in a saucepan of well-salted water. When carrots are cooked through but firm, about 5 minutes, remove from water with a slotted spoon and spread on a platter to cool.
• Simmer peas in a saucepan of well-salted water for about 2 minutes. (If you cooked yellow carrots, you can use the same saucepan and water to simmer peas.) Drain and add peas to diced vegetable mixture.
• To assemble dish, return the skillet with the vegetables to the stove over medium high heat. Add drained white beans, reserving the bean cooking liquid. Cook, stirring, until heated through, about 5 minutes, gradually adding enough cooking liquid to keep mixture a bit soupy, 1 cup or so. Taste and adjust for salt. Add cooked yellow carrots, and let them heat through.
• Transfer stew to a deep platter or wide serving bowl. Mix together parsley, mint, lemon zest and chile and sprinkle over the top. Garnish with halved eggs, lightly salted, and drizzle everything with 2 tablespoons tasty extra-virgin olive oil.