Caramelized Fennel and Onion + Greens
Have you ever cooked with a fennel bulb? I hadn’t until a friend sent me a recipe for caramelized fennel and onion. When I went to the store to buy the ingredients, I didn’t even know what a fennel bulb looked like! I had to ask someone who worked there to help me find it on the wall of produce. (To spare you the same embarrassment…it’s the bulb on the left hand side of the photo below.)
Fennel is a member of the carrot family, but it’s not a root vegetable. The bulb grows above ground. It has layers like an onion, stalks like celery, and whisky leaves that resemble dill. It has an aromatic licorice smell and when eaten raw has an anise flavor. All parts of the vegetable are edible, but most recipes will call for just the bulb. You can thinly shave the bulb with a mandolin and eat it raw in salads, but when you slice and caramelize the bulb, it has a mildly sweet flavor with a melt-in-your-mouth type of effect.
Caramelized onions by themselves are amazing, but adding fennel definitely takes your dish up a notch. I like to add greens to the dish, because I’m always looking for ways to sneak in cooked leafy greens into my meals. After caramelizing the onion and fennel, about 20-25 minutes, I add the kale (or any other dark leafy green) and sauté until it’s wilted. I finish the dish by adding finely grated parmesan cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice and parsley.
I’ve made this side dish so many times over the last several months. I even quadrupled the recipe over the holidays when my whole family was all together. This is a vegetable side dish that will transform any ordinary main course into a special night’s dinner. I like to pair it with steak or pork chops.
Ingredients:
1 large fennel bulb, sliced
1 large yellow or red onion, sliced
½ bunch of kale (or any other dark leafy green), chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp butter
1 tsp Pink Himalayan salt, more to taste
¼ cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
½ - 1 lemon, zested and juice of
2 Tbsp fresh Italian parsley, chopped
Freshly grated black pepper, to taste
Instructions:
Heat a large cast iron skillet with olive oil and butter. Add sliced fennel and onion. Begin to caramelize over medium heat for a total of 20-25 minutes. Stir often and scrape up any brown bits that are on the bottom. Add salt after about 10 minutes.
When the onions and fennel are cooked down to your likeness, stir in the leafy greens and continue to cook a few more minutes until wilted.
Remove the skillet from the heat. Add in the grated Parmesan cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice, parsley and freshly grated black pepper. Add any additional salt and lemon juice to taste.
Enjoy!
