Braising is a beautiful, elegant and unexpected way to prepare fresh fennel bulb. When slow braised, fennel retains its shape, but takes on a velvety melt-in-your-mouth texture.
Served with a luscious and creamy pan sauce that's simple to make, this dish is an easy but elegant side dish for fancier or more festive meals like roasts.
It only takes a few minutes of hands-on effort at the start and then another few minutes at the end to whip up the pan sauce to go with the fennel.
If you like fennel, you may also like:
- Golden Roasted Carrots & Fennel
- Creamy Fennel Gratin with Cheese Sauce
- Tuscan Kale Soup with Fennel Sausage and Potatoes
Instructions
Cut the fennel into wedges
Throughly wash a fresh fennel bulb. Trim away any brown, dry or mushy bits. Cut into 8-10 thick wedges.
For braising purposes, thicker wedges are better as they retain their shape and withstand long cooking better. If you were roasting the fennel, thinner wedges would be ideal to increase surface area.
Arrange everything in the pan
Once the wedges are cut you simply arrange them in a braising pan along with the fresh thyme, sliced garlic clove, salt and black pepper. A braising pan or braiser is ideal as it provides the right conditions for braising (good heat retention and a tightly fitting lid) but you can also improvise a braising pan.
Drizzle the fennel with olive oil and then pour chicken stock into the pan so the bottom is coated with about 1cm / 0.5 inch of liquid.
Braising Liquid Options
This particular dish calls for chicken stock as a braising liquid. The chicken stock adds a warm and rich undertone to the flavor of the fennel. For a fully vegetarian version simply use vegetable stock instead. For a brighter flavor profile, you can use white wine instead.
Other more strongly flavored braising liquids like red wine or beef stock may overpower the subtle flavor of the fennel.
Cook low and slow
Cook the fennel covered tightly in an oven heated to 150°C / 300°F.
Braising is all about low and slow cooking so for best results, it's best not to rush time in the oven. If you want a quicker turnaround then consider roasting the fennel instead.
It takes about 1 - 1.5 hours for the fennel to fully soften and become fork tender.
Prepare pan sauce
Once the fennel is fork tender, remove the pan from oven so you can make a quick pan sauce.
If the braising liquid has evaporated out of the pan, then top it up to the same level (make sure the bottom of the pan is coated with about 1cm / 0.5 inch of liquid).
In a small bowl take one tablespoon each of flour and butter. There are also gluten-free thickening options.
Knead them together to make a beurre manié and then mix it evenly into the pan liquid. I did this by stirring a bit of the mix in different spots around the pan and then swirling the whole pan around to mix it.
This is a shortcut method but if you want a truly smooth pan sauce then see the technical note below.
The liquid will need to be heated to thicken. You can do this by putting it back in a hot oven uncovered, which will also lightly brown the fennel for a beautiful presentation.
Technical note on sauce thickening with beurre manié
The best way to thicken liquid into a pan sauce is to remove the solids from the pan so you can really whisk everything and make a smooth emulsion. To save time and effort I don't always do this. Simply mixing the beurre manié into the braising liquid and then swirling the pan around achieves about 80% of the same emulsification.
If you want a very smooth sauce then gently remove the fennel from the pan and set it aside on a plate. Whisk the kneaded butter into the sauce over heat until thickened (3-4 minutes).
Then gently place the fennel back in and put the pan uncovered in an oven heated to 200°C / 400°F for about 15 minutes or until the fennel is golden.
After 15 minutes the fennel should be a lovely golden color. At this point I like to check if the thickness of the sauce is to my liking.
If you find the sauce too thin, you can reduce it over the stovetop until thickened. If there isn't enough liquid to do that, then try another half tablespoon of beurre manié thickened over medium heat.
If you find the sauce too thick, you can thin it with a few teaspoons at a time of braising liquid.
As always be sure to taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking. Serve hot with more fresh ground black pepper.
Related
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Recipe
Braised Fennel
Ingredients
- 1 fennel bulb
- 5 sprigs fresh thyme
- 0.5 cup low sodium chicken stock or low sodium vegetable stock / white wine. more as needed
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 0.5 teaspoon salt or more to taste
- 0.5 teaspon black pepper
pan sauce thickener
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 tablespoon butter
Equipment
- braising pan or heavy roasting pan with tight lid
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 150°C / 300°F.
- Slice the garlic thinly. Wash the fresh thyme. Wash and trim the fennel bulb. Cut into 8-10 thick wedges.
- Arrange the fennel in a braising pan. Add the garlic, thyme, salt, pepper and chicken stock or other braising liquid. Make sure the liquid covers 1 cm / 0.5 inches of the bottom of the pan.
- Cover the pan with a tight lid and slow cook at 150°C / 300°F for about 1.5 hours or until fork tender. Check once halfway and top up liquid as necessary.
- After 2.5 hours, remove the pan from the oven and increase oven temperature to 200°C / 400°F.
- Top up the liquid in the pan to same level (make sure the liquid covers 1 cm / 0.5 inches of the bottom of the pan).
- Knead together 1 tablespoon butter with 1 tablespoon flour. Either swirl it in between the fennel (shortcut) or gently remove the fennel and whisk in the kneaded butter and flour on the stovetop over medium heat until thickened, then put the fennel back in (smoother sauce).
- Put the uncovered pot back in the oven and cook for about 15 minutes or until golden.
- Remove from oven. Check sauce thickness. If too thick add a few teaspoons more braising liquid until the right consistency. If too thin, cook on stovetop over medium heat until reduced to your liking.
- Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve hot with more fresh ground black pepper.
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