Braised Fennel with Saffron and Tomato

It's really hard not to complain about the weather. Go on Twitter for any length of time and you'll find that out.

Warming and nutritious dinners should be part of every Brit's repertoire to cope with our so called summer. You can take advantage of the fresh vegetables that come with the warmer months but work them into something that will warm you from the inside when you've been caught in the rain without a coat on.

This braised fennel recipe is taken from Deborah Madison's Vegetable Literacy cookbook, and I found it over on A Sweet Spoonful's blog. The book sounds excellent, being as I cook a lot of vegetarian food it's nice to see a book dedicated to preparing vegetables, turning them into dishes that will rival anything with meat. I've just ordered it!

Chunks of fennel are slowly braised in a rich and sweet tomato sauce flavoured with herbs and saffron with garlic and capers for extra punch. We had it with some fresh wholemeal bread. It was really satisfying, warming and felt very nutritious. The only sub I made was to use a tin of plum tomatoes instead of tomato puree, as I wanted more sauce to dunk my bread in.

Braised Fennel with Saffron & Tomato
Serves 2

1 large fennel bulb
olive oil
1/2 white onion, diced
1 teaspoon of fennel seed
1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme or small handful of fresh, chopped
pinch of saffron strands
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or minced
1 tin of plum tomatoes, pureed
1 tablespoon of capers
200ml vegetable stock
reserved fennel fronds, to garnsih


1. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil on a medium heat in a large wide saucepan and then add the onions once the oil is hot. Fry for 2 minutes and then add in the fennel seeds, thyme and saffron. Continue to fry on a lower heat for 5 minutes or so til the saffron releases it's colour.

2. Slice your fennel bulb along the length in to large chunks, making sure to keep the core intact so it doesn't fall apart during cooking. Add to the pin and fry til golden.

3. Then add in the garlic, tomatoes, capers, salt and stock.

4. Simmer for 15 - 20 minutes til the fennel is tender, season to taste. Serve in bowls with the fennel fronds to garnish.

Serve with fresh bread, or as Sweet Spoonful suggests with some quinoa and crumbled cheese.

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Tomato Bruschetta

So who else, whilst watching Celebrity Masterchef this week, thought - who boils tomatoes for bruschetta and removes the skins? I always thought the idea was to use fresh tomatoes?

Anyway, despite that, I really fancied some nice basil and olive oil spiked tomatoes after watching it. Here is a confession - my tomatoes which should have been some locally grown fresh summer tomatoes were actually from Tesco. Sorry, are my blogger credentials ruined?

Anyway, I used some cherry tomatoes which are sweeter than the normal sized ones and gave them some help with decent olive oil and basil from my garden. So I think I win a bit more because I grew the basil myself? I finely chopped and then crushed into a paste with the knife some garlic and added that, with plenty of seasoning.

Instead of the traditional ciabatta I used some pizza dough I had in the fridge to make pizza fritta. This is a pretty unhealthy but awesome way of making pizza, I got the recipe from Jamie Oliver's 'Jamie at Home' book. Basically you fry it in olive oil on both sides til it fluffs up - then add toppings and grill to melt the cheese. For this I just topped with tomatoes and served it up.

This was a perfect indulgent but light lunch and the extra flavourings from basil and garlic pimped up (sorry been reading too much Joliver) some ordinary tomatoes. I will try it with some 'proper' local tomatoes soon, I'm sure it will be amazing!

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