Roasted fennel with balsamic glaze and toasted walnuts
Roasting turns fennel from sharp and licorice-y into sweet and almost caramel. Different vegetable entirely.
The BetterDay Kitchen2 min read
Raw fennel tastes like licorice and people have strong feelings about that. Roasted fennel tastes like something else entirely: sweet, mellow, faintly caramel at the edges. If you have written fennel off, this is the recipe that gets it back on your plate.
Buying and prepping it
Look for bulbs that are firm and pale, with no browning at the cut end and the fronds still perky. Those feathery fronds are not garnish filler, they taste like a gentler version of the bulb, so keep them.
Trim the stalks, halve the bulb lengthwise, then cut into wedges about half an inch thick. Leave a little of the core attached to each wedge. It is tough to eat raw but it softens in the oven, and without it the layers fall apart on the tray.
Toast the walnuts separately
Do not throw them on the tray with the fennel. Thirty minutes at 400F turns walnuts bitter. Three to five minutes in a dry skillet, moving constantly, is all they need, and you will smell exactly when they are done.
What to serve it with
- Alongside anything roasted, especially chicken or white fish
- On a bed of white beans with lots of olive oil, as a light dinner
- Cold the next day, chopped through a grain salad
The recipe
Roasted Fennel with Balsamic Glaze and Toasted Walnuts
Fennel wedges roasted in a garlic, balsamic, maple and thyme glaze, finished with toasted walnuts and parsley.
Prep
15 min
Cook
30 min
Total
45 min
Makes
Serves 4 as a side
Ingredients
- 2 medium fennel bulbs, fronds reserved
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme, or 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
- Fresh parsley, finely chopped, to finish
Method
- 1Heat the oven to 400F (200C) and line a baking sheet with parchment.
- 2Trim the fronds from the fennel and set a handful aside. Halve the bulbs lengthwise, cut into wedges about 1/2 inch thick, and leave a little core on each wedge so the layers hold.
- 3In a small bowl, whisk 2 tablespoons of the olive oil with the minced garlic, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, thyme, salt and pepper.
- 4Toss the fennel wedges in the glaze until evenly coated.
- 5Arrange in a single layer on the tray with space between the wedges. Roast 25 to 30 minutes, flipping once halfway, until tender and caramelised at the edges.
- 6While the fennel roasts, toast the chopped walnuts in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 3 to 5 minutes until fragrant. Tip them straight out of the pan so they stop cooking.
- 7Transfer the fennel to a platter, drizzle with the last tablespoon of olive oil, and scatter over the walnuts, parsley and reserved fronds.
Keeps
Up to 3 days in the fridge. Good cold, better reheated in a hot oven for 5 minutes.
Chef’s note
A squeeze of lemon right at the end lifts the whole plate. The glaze is sweet and the fennel is sweet, and the dish needs one sharp note to stop it going flat.
Rather not cook tonight
We make this kind of food every week.
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