Description
Roasted fennel is healthy side dish that pairs beautifully with fish or chicken. If you are interested in healthy eating this is one of my favorite ways to serve a light, satisfying dish.
Ingredients
Scale
- 4 bulbs of fresh fennel
- 8 campari tomatoes, halved (or 4 garden tomatoes, cut into quarters)
- 2 tbsps of extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp of herbs de Provence (or fresh oregano, thyme and rosemary if you have them)
- Teaspoon of sea salt
- 1 lemon (lemon juice and lemon zest)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Slice the green fronds off the fennel bulbs and discard (or make into a tea if you wish!)
- Peel off the outer layers of each white bulb, discard.
- Standing the fennel bulb on its base, cut width wise all the way down, so it is cut in half. Then cut each half into thick slices.
- Slice out the bottom core out of each wedge as the core can be a little more bitter in flavor and tougher in texture.
- Spread cut fennel in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Sprinkle generously with olive oil, sea salt and herbes de provence or fresh herbs.
- Place tray in preheated oven on the middle rack.
- Roast for a half hour.
- Remove the tray from the oven and flip the fennel slices so that they roast evenly on both sides.
- Add in the tomato slices and drizzle with a little more olive oil.
- Roast for another half hour until the fennel is translucent in color and softened.
- You will see, roasting the fennel makes for nice, crispy edges. Truly the good stuff!
- Serve immediately.
Notes
What wine to drink with Fennel
Fennel has a black licorice flavor so it pairs better with wines that are round and slightly buttery such as a chardonnay or a pinot blanc. While I love a crisp, white wine such as a pinot gris, I find that the acidity between the fennel and pinot gris are not as balanced as with a chardonnay.
You will love to serve roasted fennel with Roast Chicken, Chicken breast, Salmon or with grilled Branzino like we do in the south of France. Fennel is also perfect for BBQ season.